Variety Girl (Blu-ray)

Featuring three dozen stars, Variety Girl is a mammoth musical romance on how a movie star is born set amid the "reality" of a Hollywood studio! Playing himself, the incomparable Bob Hope reigns as top comic over one of the most star-studded casts ever assembled including Bing Crosby, Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Alan Ladd, Barbara Stanwyck, Paulette Goddard, Dorothy Lamour and many, many more. Starlet wannabe Amber LaVonne (Olga San Juan) is mistaken for her friend, the beautiful and talented Catherine Brown (Mary Hatcher). While the zany Amber flubs her way from audition to screen test to stage debut, Catherine cannot seem to keep her head above water in dealing with studio head R.J. O'Connell (Frank Ferguson). Along the way, the madness stops only long enough for musical numbers by Pearl Bailey, Spike Jones and His City Slickers, The Mulcays, and a rare puppetoon version of "Romeow and Juliacat." Topped off by an A-list all-star variety revue, Variety Girl proves itself to be among the most entertaining and hilarious comedies ever filmed.

• musical