"The Christmas Party" is a black-and-white sound film from 1931, so it has its 85th anniversary this year already. The star here is Jackie Cooper and this was made the very same year he got his Oscar nomination, but all kinds of big names from that era have little cameos too, such as Clark Gable for example. Check out the cast list for everybody who shows up in these 9 minutes. Unfortunately, in terms of content, it is not too great, but that should not come as a surprise. Watching other people party and celebrate is nothing too exciting if you are just the audience. I personally also wondered why they celebrated Christmas as I thought it was mostly a family event, but I guess company celebrations were already a thing back then and there were many kids to join Cooper celebrating. The final message from Cooper to us is nice, but it does not make up for the boredom from before. I have to give this one a thumbs down.

1931 was quite a year for Jackie Cooper. He began it while still a member of Hal Roach's Rascals (a.k.a Our Gang) before then filming Skippy for his uncle Norman Taurog at Paramount. After that film's success, Roach then sold Cooper's contract to his distributor M-G-M so he could do features there starting with The Champ which was also a success. So that probably got the powers-that-be there to make a promotional short featuring their now-hot child star and surrounding him with many of the studio's other adult stars in a holiday greeting meant to wow the theatrical audience with all the celebs in the studio's roster at the time. What I saw was quite amusing if not hilarious with whoever I recognized turning up at Jackie's "party" like Clark Gable, and, oh, let's not forget Norma Shearer who seems to have an "in" with Mr. Mayer but then, she was married to his second-in-command, Irving Thalberg, at the time. So on that note, The Christmas Party is worth a look for anyone curious about these things.

Christmas Party, The (1931) *** (out of 4) Charles Reisner Jackie Cooper wants to throw his football team a Christmas party at his house but soon other teams learn of it and want to come as well. The house is too small for everyone so Cooper asks Mayer if he can have the party on one of the MGM lots. The actual story here isn't all that important but what is are all th A-list stars who make an appearance here. Clark Gable, Lionel Barrymore, Anita Page, Wallace Beery, Marie Dressler, Marion Davies, Jimmy Durante (as Santa) and Norma Shearer are just a few of the stars that show up. If you know anything about Mayer you'd know that there's no way he'd really allow a party to take place on his set but I guess that's besides the point since the film itself is just trying to be charming and it does that. Mayer doesn't show up but there are plenty of others that make this a must see for fans of Hollywood's Golden Era.MGM Christmas Trailer (1937) *** (out of 4) A 15-year-old Judy Garland sings "Silent Night" in this very short (2-minutes) short from MGM. There's really nothing to judge here except the song and Garland does a great job with it. I'm sure something extra could have been added to plump up the running time but what's here is very good.

This hard-to-find little film was MGM's Christmas Short Subject for 1931 and it's a lot of fun for old movie buffs.The plot (Jackie Cooper wants to give a Christmas dinner to his neighborhood pals and his friends at the studio lend a hand) is a mere contrivance to show as many of MGM's top talent as possible in 9 minutes. Norma Shearer - as Thalberg's wife she was Queen of the Lot - gets the most screen time. The enjoyment is in trying to put the correct moniker to all the others as they appear - most for only a few seconds.In order of their appearance, here is a complete listing of the uncredited celebrities: Jackie Cooper, Norma Shearer, Jimmy Durante (dressed as Santa), Marie Dressler, Wallace Beery, Polly Moran, Reginald Denny, Clark Gable, Charlotte Greenwood, Lionel Barrymore, Leila Hyams, Cliff Edwards, Ramon Novarro, Marion Davies, and Anita Page.***************************Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.