Produced by Harry Rapf and Irving Thalberg and directed by Charles Reisner, it features nearly all of MGM's stars in a two-hour revue that includes three segments in Technicolor.

Unlike M-G-M's imposing feature films, which always boasted strong story values, The Hollywood Revue of 1929 was a plotless parade of variety acts.

[7] Other segments feature Gus Edwards, John Gilbert, Norma Shearer, Lionel Barrymore, Buster Keaton, Marie Dressler, Bessie Love, Marion Davies, Anita Page, and the comedy team of Karl Dane and George K. Arthur.

This latter all-star color sequence was a last-minute addition to the film, shot late at night on June 10, 1929, just ten days before the premiere at Grauman's Chinese Theatre.

Another sequence, a parody of the Albertina Rasch ballet's "pearl dance" by Marie Dressler, was planned but not shot (as the film's production records reveal).

Gilbert, a popular silent film actor best known for his work opposite Garbo, possessed a pleasant, tenor speaking voice which did not always match his heroic, dashing screen image.

The circulating print of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 runs as follows: The film, which was shot in 25 days with a budget of US$426,000, was popular with audiences and critics alike, especially in its initial big-city engagements.