Love animation, it was a big part of my life as a child, particularly Disney, Looney Tunes and Tom and Jerry, and still love it whether it's film, television or cartoons.Also have much admiration for Tex Avery, an animation genius whose best cartoons are animated masterpieces and some of the best he ever did. 'Hollywood Steps Out' is an atypical Avery cartoon somewhat, and while it is not one of his very best it's greatly entertaining. A few of the caricatures are a little too brief, but what makes 'Hollywood Steps Out' better than a lot of caricature/celebrity lampooning cartoons is that to me the celebrities were all easy to spot and recognise and they were never less than very amusing. Nothing went over my head and the cartoon made me nostalgic for the classic Hollywood age.It is no surprise either that the animation is superb, being rich in colour and detail. The character designs are fluid and well drawn, if not the creative ones of his very best cartoons. Carl Stalling's music is lush and characterful, with clever orchestration and a mastery of not just adding to the action but enhancing it as well (Stalling was a near-unequalled master at this, though Scott Bradley gave him a run for his money). The songs featured are catchy and toe-tapping.'Hollywood Steps Out' is never less than very amusing and is hugely entertaining, if not always hilarious. The ending is particularly funny. The caricatures of famous celebrities of the classic Hollywood age induce a lot of nostalgia and are very cleverly done.The voice work is superb, most in multiple roles with Sara Berner and particularly Dave Barry having the lion's share.Overall, great caricature cartoon. 9/10 Bethany Cox

"Hollywood Steps Out" is a 7.5-minute cartoon from 1941, so it's having its 75th anniversary this year. Not bad. It was written by Melvin Millar and the director is the famous Tex Avery giving us one of his earlier works. It's a Warner Bros Production together with Schlesinger Studios, both big players from that era, and counts among Warner Bros' Merrie Melodies. This is certainly misleading as music is almost non-existent in this little movie. I find it interesting how they depicted cartoon characters of so many famous stars from that time, but sadly, this is really all that the film is. Neither the dialogs nor the interactions and actions are memorable or interesting at all and with most people in this film being only known to major movie buffs, if at all, the film has not aged well at all. It may have been a good or great watch for its time during World War II, but for today it is not anymore. Thumbs down.

I am a huge fan of the Golden Age of Hollywood, but even I had a hard time sticking with this old and rather lame cartoon from Warner Brothers. I was able to follow the many inside jokes and I knew who the celebrities were who were being parodied, but nowadays most people won't know who the actors are who are being featured--meaning that the film certainly would have gone over a lot better in 1941. The problem, though, is that even if you do know who everyone is and what the references were about, it just wasn't particularly funny. As for me, I much prefer a Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck cartoon from the same time period. Still, it is an interesting curio that old movie buffs or historians might enjoy--just be forewarned that it's far from Warner's best.

The Hollywood set steps out at Ciro's to be precise, where the night-clubbing action is exclusively set. The script is not particularly amusing or inventive, but fascinating all the same. The voice impersonations are mostly very skillful. One of the longest spots has Jimmy Stewart declining an invitation to rumba. At least two gags deal with Crosby's horse-racing ventures, whilst the climax features a bubble dance by "Sally Strand". Naturally the stars in evidence at Ciro's on this particular night (Dinner $50 and up. Easy terms available) are weighted in favor of Warner Bros, though a number of "foreign" stars receive a fair innings including the Hardys (both real and fictional), the Three Stooges, and Harpo Marx. Some of the faces are glimpsed so fleetingly they will be difficult for a 2007 audience to recognize. And maybe two or three are now forgotten.Musically, the film is a feast for song-lovers with snatches from Nat Ayer's "Oh, You Beautiful Doll", Tony Jackson and Egbert Van Alstyne's "Pretty Baby", Allie Wrubel's "The Lady in Red", Isham Jones' "It Had To Be You", James Brockman, James Kendis and Nat Vincent's "I'm Forever Blowing Bubbles", M.K. Jerome's "Congo", Harry Warren's "You Must Have Been a Beautiful Baby", Murray Mencher's "Merrily We Roll Along" and others, all delightfully rendered by the studio orchestra under the baton of Leo F. Forbstein.To sum up: In view of the star line-up, somewhat disappointing, but still a must for all movie buffs.