A scathing satire about the dark side of the Hollywood dream factory, told in an impressive, experimental style. Working with extremely limited resources, directors Robert Florey and Slavko Vorkapich (with the help of cameraman Gregg Toland, who would later go on to photograph CITIZEN KANE) created the dreamlike, highly stylised imagery of this fairy tale about the downfall of a naive young actor in America’s filmmaking capital. George Gershwin’s groundbreaking 1924 composition Rhapsody in Blue allegedly served as the inspiration behind the film, whose visuals mirror the music’s Jazz Age energy.
