Hollywod Revue redux

So TCM is running Babes in Arms tonight at 10:15 PM as part of a night of "Bob's Picks". You may have seen the promo trailer show up on TCM; if not, I've embedded it below. (I think that's the one TCM's been running; I'm having a bit of trouble getting to run on my system. The trailer TCM has been running is also on Youtube.)

The first thing I noticed was how MGM claims to have pioneered the musical with Broadway Melody. The only problem is, the clip they're using isn't from Broadway Melody. In fact, it's the black-and-white version of "Singin' in the Rain" from The Hollywood Revue; specifically, if memory serves, it closes the first half of the movie. The promo/trailer also includes that wonderful revolving spiral staircase that seems to have no end from The Great Ziegfeld before it runs out of steam.

Actually, I think TCM had another Hollywood Revue sighting for attentive viewers. I mentioned the short Fashion's Mirror the other day. It turned out to be not so great other than a punchline at the end, and a scene in which the two leads are in their car going through Times Square as it was around 1930. I always love those establishing shots that show a famous lit-up place like Times Square as the people of decades ago would have seen it. But as the two are riding down the street, it really looks as though one of the movie theaters has a vertical marquee for Hollywood Revue. That's somewhat interesting because Hollywood Revue was an MGM film, while the short was from Vitaphone, which was already part of Warner Bros. (I always try to read movie marquees in classic films to see if they're advertising a real film, and then figure out if it's from the same studio that released the movie I'm watching. Yes, I'm a geek.)