Screen Snapshots Series 13 No 12 Review: Awkward 1930s Stars

If you have nine minutes to spare and love old Hollywood gossip, this weird little time capsule is absolutely worth a look. Vintage nerds will eat it up, but anyone expecting a real story or actual movie magic is going to be incredibly bored. 🎬

It is basically a 1934 version of Instagram Reels, but with way more polo shirts and awkward hand-waving. It has this strange, hypnotic energy because of how forced everything feels.

Our host is Harriet Parsons, a "roving reporter" who sounds like she is reading her script off a crumpled napkin. She walks us through these supposedly "intimate" moments of stars just hanging out in their massive gardens.

Of course, none of this is actually candid. You can practically hear the director off-screen yelling at some poor actor to look more relaxed while holding a heavy wooden tennis racket.

At one point, we see some stars who probably wished they were doing something else, maybe starring in a real picture like the classic comedy Kiki instead of standing on a manicured lawn looking confused.

There is this one shot of a dog that looks so incredibly done with the whole production. The dog is just lying there, sighing with its eyes, while some actor tries to make it do a trick that it clearly does not know. 🐶

The audio has that scratchy, hollow hiss that makes everything sound like it was recorded inside a giant metal tin can. It actually adds to the charm, though, and makes the whole thing feel like a secret diary.

It reminds me a bit of the bright, slightly forced cheerfulness you get in early talkies like Sunny Side Up. Everyone is just so happy to be seen, even if they are just walking down some stairs.

The Weird Magic of Staged "Candid" Shots

Why does everyone in 1934 own a giant wooden lawn chair? Seriously, every backyard looks exactly the same, like a showroom for outdoor furniture that nobody actually sits on.

Harriet's narration is just gold. She says things with this bizarre, sing-song cadence that makes even a mundane description of a swimming pool sound slightly menacing.

"And here we have..." she says, right before the camera cuts to a guy who looks like he got caught stealing cookies from the jar. It is beautiful.

• The awkward side-eye from a star who clearly hates the camera crew.
• A very suspicious-looking tennis match where no one actually hits the ball over the net.
• Harriet's amazing, aggressive enthusiasm for literally nothing.

Is it art? Absolutely not.

But as a weird little window into a time when movie stars were treated like literal gods who also happened to play badminton, it is pretty fun. Just do not expect it to change your life or anything.