Checking in on the stars in Screen Snapshots, Series 12, No. 6

Is it worth your time?

Honestly, only if you're a massive fan of old Hollywood trivia. If you find the studio system from the 1930s interesting, you’ll probably get a kick out of this. If you’re looking for a narrative or anything resembling a movie with a point, you will absolutely hate this. It’s just fluff, really.

There is this strange, low-fi energy to these shorts. It feels like someone just grabbed a camera and wandered into a garden party. Nobody is really acting, which makes the whole thing feel weirdly grounded compared to something like Indiscreet. 🎥

You can tell the participants are trying to look natural, but they're all painfully aware of the lens. They’re leaning against trees and smiling in that specific, stiff way people did before the mid-century. It's not quite a documentary, but it's not a narrative either. It just exists.

The little things

• The fashion is wild. Everyone looks like they’re dressed for a lawn game that doesn’t exist anymore.
• The editing is so choppy it almost makes you seasick. It’s like they didn’t care about flow at all.
• There’s a moment where a horse just looks directly into the camera. It’s probably the most honest performance in the whole reel.

It’s funny how much more interesting these quick glimpses are than some of the actual features from the same year, like C.O.D.. At least here you get to see how they stood when they weren't worried about hitting a mark. They look like real, slightly awkward humans.

Is it a masterpiece? Hardly. It’s barely even a film. But there’s something nice about it, like finding an old polaroid in a thrift store coat pocket. It’s just a quiet, tiny window into a world that’s been gone for nearly a century. Sometimes that’s enough, I guess. 🎞️

I found myself wondering if they ever got tired of smiling for these things. Probably. Imagine being that famous and having to do this on your day off.