Hollywood Steps Out Review

Hollywood Steps Out is a 1941 animated short film from the Merry Melodies series. It is a very amusing celebrity parody.

This is another spot-gag Merry Melodies cartoon which is a celebrity parody of various famous actors from the thirties and early forties. So again this film has no plot and is just an excuse to throw various famous celebrities in one room together, at a party. I found the film flawed in some areas and forgettable while also never being as hilarious as these parodies usually are.

But the humor is still good and some of the lines are quite funny. The highlight is the animation which is terrific here with the character design being absolutely fantastic. Cary Grant (the voice as well), Clark Gable, Peter Lorre and everyone honestly looks real and highly stylized. The attention to detail is so overwhelming that they are instantly recognizable even for today’s less knowledgeable audiences.

Hollywood Steps Out definitely isn’t as hilarious as it should have been, but still a successful parody experiment with terrific looking actors.