Flix — another one of those channels you probably don't get unless you have a satellite dish — has been running Movie Movie, a very funny movie that a lot of folks never got. Written by Larry Gelbart and Sheldon Keller, and starring George C. Scott, Art Carney, Trish Van Devere and other fine thespians, Movie Movie is two films in one. First up is Dynamite Hands, a parody of a thirties' boxing flick. Then comes Baxter's Beauties of 1933, which burlesques the musicals of the period wherein the star can't perform on opening night and a girl from the chorus takes over. Both mini-films have much the same cast, and there's a trailer in between…and the whole thing is a lot of silly fun.
Both halves of Movie Movie were filmed in color and, when it was previewed, they experimented with making one half black-and-white. (They also had a newsreel segment then, which was eliminated, and Dynamite Hands had a different ending.) In the initial release, the prize-fighting movie was black-and-white and the show biz musical was color…but the prints now being run on cable have both halves in color, which I think is a mistake. Dynamite Hands was funnier in monochrome, and the shift to color was effective.
The film was not a big hit and never received much exposure on home video. Gelbart wrote Movie Movie II, the script of which reads even funnier, but it never got in front of a camera…so we have to settle for catching the first one on cable. If you get the chance, I suggest you do so.