Hollywood Story (DVD)

Best remembered as the director and creative promoted of such campy horror films as The House on Haunted Hill (1959) and The Tingler (1959), William Castle was a multi-talented director, producer, screenwriter and actor who helmed many competent small-budget films for Columbia Pictures, including four titles in The Whistler franchise. HOLLYWOOD STORY (1951) stars Richard Conte as a stage producer with dreams of being in the movie business who decides to shoot a documentary about the mysterious death of a silent film director -- only to find himself in danger of suffering a similar fate. With cameos by silent films tars such as Helen Gibson and Francis X. Bushman, HOLLYWOOD STORY takes aim at the darker side of the movie business, much like Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd. had the year prior.