Checking out the old Palm Springs lifestyle

Is this worth your time?

Honestly, only if you are a total sucker for vintage Hollywood gossip or just really curious about what Palm Springs looked like before it became, well, what it is today. If you need a plot or a narrative arc, you are going to be bored out of your mind within thirty seconds. People who love film history will dig the casual vibe, but everyone else might just find it a bit stiff.

There is something inherently weird about watching 1930s celebrities pretend to be surprised by awards. The whole thing feels like a home movie that accidentally got a distribution deal.

Desert life and fancy clubs

The Racquet Club looks pretty nice, I guess. It is all white stucco and people in really uncomfortable-looking tennis clothes. Ralph Staub just sort of lingers on the faces of stars like he’s hoping one of them will do something interesting, but mostly they just stand around smiling. It has that strangely empty feeling where you know there’s a whole crew off-camera, but the film pretends it’s just a candid afternoon in the sun.

Then we jump to Walt Disney getting a medal. The man looks like he would rather be literally anywhere else, which is a nice touch of reality in an otherwise super polished PR piece.

• George Breakston getting an Italian award, which is a random detail that stuck with me for some reason.
• The footage of Paul Kelly’s stables is oddly long. Like, did they run out of stuff to film at the club?
• The lighting is pure mid-30s glare—everyone is squinting.

I found myself comparing the production value here to something like Komposition in Blau, though they are obviously doing completely different things. This doesn't have the experimental edge of other shorts from the era. It is just a record. A dusty, sun-bleached record.

One shot of a group of people laughing at a joke we can’t hear lasts for at least ten seconds too long. It turns into one of those moments where the silence on screen becomes palpable, even with the music playing. Did they forget to cut? Maybe they just liked the way the light hit the patio.

It is definitely not as heavy as something like The Sins of the Mothers, obviously. It’s light. It’s fleeting. It’s basically the cinematic equivalent of a postcard you find in a junk shop. Not essential, but kind of fun if you’re in the mood to stare at the past for a few minutes. ☀️