Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Hollywood Story

Play trailer Poster for Hollywood Story 1951 1h 17m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
Tomatometer 3 Reviews 44% Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
An outsider (Richard Conte) tries to make a movie about the unsolved bungalow murder of a silent-film director.

Critics Reviews

View All (3) Critics Reviews
Bob Thomas Associated Press All this adds up to intriguing fare, well above the average for this type of film. Aug 7, 2019 Full Review Yasser Medina Cinefilia A minor film noir that somehow manages to trap me with the whodunit of its plot and the presence of Richard Conte as a producer turned detective. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 7/10 Jun 25, 2021 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews A fairly absorbing crime thriller whose plot involves a look at Hollywood's silent stars. Rated: B- Sep 30, 2002 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (3) audience reviews
catirerubio Neat murder mystery, obviously made for a few dollars at best, but with tight direction, good actors. Not stars but good actors. Excellent black and white photography. Not a scene wasted. Enjoy it. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/06/23 Full Review Audience Member William Castle (producer and showman extraordinaire; known for House on Haunted Hill and The Tingler and a lot of B-quickies) made this not-bad noir mystery with reflexive overtones. Richard Conte plays a New York producer who heads west to Hollywood and decides to make a movie about the unsolved murder of an old silent movie director (only 20 years earlier â" so, around 1998 to 1999 for us!). As soon as the word gets out, old-timers emerge from the woodworks and suspicious events start to happen. Conte is solid and Castle keeps things moving briskly (the film is only 77 minutes long) so it feels a bit like one of those TV murder mystery shows â" palatable but insubstantial. In a nod (rip-off) to Sunset Blvd (1950), a recent success, Conte encounters a number of actual silent film stars (mostly unknown today but there is Joel McCrea!). Julie Adams (love interest) and Richard Egan (cop) are good in supporting roles. The three suspects at least have distinct personalities although the mystery itself isn't really fleshed out. Apparently, the studio that Conte takes over is really Chaplin's old digs. Have a look at Kenneth Anger's Hollywood Babylon if you want to know about the real unsolved murders of the silent days! Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Audience Member Castle riff on Sunset Blvd., with Jim Backus narration and procedural approach to investigating old Hollywood as a means of ironic critique. Interesting as it relates to the director being more than a gimmick/exploitation trickster, and pretty entertaining for its own sake. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 01/26/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Hollywood Story

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Movie Info

Synopsis An outsider (Richard Conte) tries to make a movie about the unsolved bungalow murder of a silent-film director.
Director
William Castle
Producer
Leonard Goldstein
Screenwriter
Frederick Kohner, Frederick Brady
Production Co
Universal International Pictures (UI)
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Mar 11, 2015
Runtime
1h 17m