In the early days of sound, some Hollywood studios made giant song and dance spectaculars to showcase all their actors in this new medium. The most famous was MGM's "Hollywood Review of 1929". "The Show of Shows" is Warner Brothers entry into this very short-lived genre...and thankfully this sort of film was soon out of style. I say thankfully because these films were pretty awful. Now they ARE of great interest to film historians, but seeing and hearing actors doing bizarre acts of dubious quality is hard to endure at times-- especially because a lot of non-singers were inexplicably forced to sing. In the case of "The Show of Shows" it's made worse because the folks arranging the songs and directing the pieces were apparently insane--and often choruses were was out of sync and sounded very amateurish. And imagine starting this program with a precision drill team dancing up and down a huge flight of steps. What's THAT all about?!
So is this worth seeing? Well, no...unless you are either very drunk, have very low standards or simply are curious. But at over two hours, the curiosity wears very, very thin. Among the notables you will recognize (and most you won't) are John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Myrna Loy and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.--but a huge number of these stars are folks whose careers were about to turn very sour. With the advent of sound, popular comics like Lloyd Hamilton, Lupino Land and Ben Turpin would soon have trouble finding work and the film is filled with has-beens. I am very familiar with the stars of this era, but would STILL love it if someone could add captions to this film so you realize who you are watching! Overall, I'd say that this film is tough to endure, long-winded and terrible. And those are only the good qualities.
So is this worth seeing? Well, no...unless you are either very drunk, have very low standards or simply are curious. But at over two hours, the curiosity wears very, very thin. Among the notables you will recognize (and most you won't) are John Barrymore, Mary Astor, Myrna Loy and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.--but a huge number of these stars are folks whose careers were about to turn very sour. With the advent of sound, popular comics like Lloyd Hamilton, Lupino Land and Ben Turpin would soon have trouble finding work and the film is filled with has-beens. I am very familiar with the stars of this era, but would STILL love it if someone could add captions to this film so you realize who you are watching! Overall, I'd say that this film is tough to endure, long-winded and terrible. And those are only the good qualities.