Ever reliable director William Castle does sound job of keeping HOLLYWOOD STORY interesting, active and coherent, to some extent thanks to revisiting the silent era and posting cameos with actors of that time like Bushman and Farnum, and a splendid Joel McCrea at the top of his fame, he who began as a silent actor and managed to make the transition to a distinguished career in the sound stages of Hollywood.
The screenplay boasts an unusual and imaginative approach to those elements and, in particular, to the whodunnit type of movie, using credible dialogue to keep you guessing the murderer's identity. I found that I only needed to suspend my disbelief when movie producer Conte started acting more like a police detective than police detective Lennox himself.
Acting is of a high order, even if I found Conte's constant smiling a tad disconcerting and even annoying. Pretty Julia Adams does well in a short role that does not stretch her at all. Egan is effective as detective Lennox, but the real acting gems come from Henry Hull and Fred Clark.
Excellent cinematography from Carl Guthrie and editing from Virgil Vogel. 8/10.
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