Paramount has released this film on dvd and bluray but with no extras at all not even a trailer. Could it be that a Hollywood studio does not want to publicise a movie which shows the decadence and and profit hungry mentality of a Hollywood studio because it cuts too close to the bone ? A case of art imitating life ?
Burgess Meredith plays an over the hill vaudeville performer. I imagine he could relate to the subject matter of this film as he started his acting career in the 1930s appearing in several films most notably Of Mice and Men.
Donald Sutherland appears as a character called Homer Simpson yet this movie was released over a decade before the tv series first appeared.
Another offbeat character is "Adore" a child who is an aspiring dancer/singer. Although meant to be a girl the part is played by a male actor (Jackie Haley). Maybe this was an allusion to Shirley Temple ? Believe it or not some people actually thought that Shirley Temple was a boy disguised as a girl.
Cult horror film director William Castle plays a film director during the battle of Waterloo sequence.
Excellent score and use of period music by John Barry.
Review of The Day of the Locust
