Stand-In, 1937
Stand-In - Released October 29, 1937. Directed by Tay Garnett
Leslie Howard and Joan Blondell battle Hollywood, he as an outsider accountant brought in to look over the books of a failing film studio, and she as a forgotten former child star who provides him with the tips he needs to navigate through the studio maze. Humphrey Bogart is on hand as a loyal (but alcoholic) film producer who is being used by a scheming actress (Marla Shelton) who is trying to seduce the new accountant. She is acting under orders from a businessman (C. Henry Gordon) who needs the new accountant disgraced before he finds out whats really going on off-the-books at "Colossal Pictures."
Twilight Time has issued a new "restored" Blu-Ray for the the film, and it is a better looking and sounding version of the film than the 2003 DVD from Image, but it is not the equivalent of many restored films now on HD that look spectacular because they've been remastered from negatives or high quality prints. Often the comparison between a restored film on HD is up against old prints that have been used for VHS or streaming services, and the differences of the sources for the HD mastering can be considerable. The Twilight Time Blu-Ray for Stand-In is a clear improvement, but it is using less than optimum prints (there's a brief mention of this at the beginning of the film), but for a long neglected film like this, the difference on the screen is still an achievement (also the sound is greatly improved).
Older Reviews:
Stand-In 1937 (2017)
Stand-In 1937 (2014)
Original Page May 2014
Letters from Hollywood: Inside the Private World of Classic American Movemaking
352 pages - Published by Harry N. Abrams
"This is, quite simply, one of the finest books I’ve ever read about Hollywood." Leonard Maltin
Reproduces in full color scores of entertaining and insightful pieces of correspondence from some of the most notable and talented film industry names of all time—from the silent era to the golden age, and up through the pre-email days of the 1970s. Annotated by the authors to provide backstories and further context. Greta Garbo, Alfred Hitchcock, Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Katharine Hepburn, Marlon Brando, Elia Kazan, Cary Grant, Francis Ford Coppola, Tom Hanks, and Jane Fonda.
Letters from Hollywood: Inside the Private World of Classic American Movemaking