Search - Hollywood and Vine on DVD

Tinseltown dog tale

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 12/27/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"ALPHA VIDEO's HOLLYWOOD AND VINE is a strange little hour-length Poverty Row programmer that features a few "name" actors in minor roles. The story's been done many times before and since: A young person with dreams of movie stardom struggles and fails while an acquaintance succeeds.



SYNOPSIS:

Larry and aspiring actress Martha meet at Pop Barkley's roadside cafe. While a small dancing dog distracts Larry, Martha sneaks out of the restaurant. Larry follows with the dog, thinking that it belongs to the girl, but he can't find her. When Larry (a successful playwright) is hired by a studio to do a script on actor wannabes, his research takes him to a drugstore at the aforenamed crossroads, where Martha works as a waitress. Larry tries giving Martha the dog ("Emperor") and again Martha gives -him- the slip. Larry's persistence pays off, and eventually the two become good friends. Martha adopts Emperor, who really didn't belong to her.



Larry takes a job at the drugstore as a soda jerk so he can be close to his girl. When Martha visits Lavish Studios with Emperor, the cute little dog is hired for a movie, but he runs away. A gal named Gloria finds Emperor and when she sees his photo in a newspaper (the studio was looking for their new star) she rushes down to Lavish with the pooch. Emperor does indeed hit the big time, and Gloria is hit with a big time lawsuit (to the tune of a half-a-million bucks!) filed by a woman named Abigail Wrighthorse who claims righful ownership of Emperor. In court, Pop Barkley (remember the cafe?) testifies, and what he has to say settles matters.





ALPHA VIDEO is a provider of vintage movies, serials and TV programs, many of which aren't available elsewhere. Their prices are fair, but so is transfer quality of some of their offerings. None have undergone restoration, yet the market scarcity of their material and an honest price make these DVDs a worthwhile purchase.



Also from ALPHA:

YOU'RE OUT OF LUCK (1941) is a comic mystery that teams diminutive Frankie Darro with Mantan Moreland.





Parenthetical number preceding title is a 1 to 10 viewer poll rating found at a film resource website.



(6.2) Hollywood and Vine (1945) - James Ellison/Wanda McKay/June Clyde/Ralph Morgan/Franklin Pangborn/Leon Belasco/Emmett Lynn/Michael Romanoff/Dewey Robinson/Lillian Bronson (uncredited: Charles Middleton)"