Whistling Dixie Short Film Review

alexjames96
Jul 7
2 min read

★★★★

Starring: #AbbieMayWilson, #JoshVinten, #JackPayton, #HannahJarrett,

Whistling Dixie is a short film set in the 1930’s and follows rising star Betty and her desire to be in big Hollywood movies. However, things aren’t all as glitz and glam as she believed, as she becomes led down a very dark path to gain the fame she so desperately has been searching for. The cost of sharing your voice with the world is a high price and Betty must decide whether she is willing to sacrifice her integrity and pride to get to the top and share her talent with the world. A film directed by Jacob T McClean, a period film can be a difficult filming style, but Whistling Dixie was a great short that really remained authentic to the time with the details from location, acting and dialogue to the soundtrack. This was a fantastic short film that was enjoyable and unique in every way.

Betty is a girl with big dreams and having seen the stars of Hollywood on the screen she made it her mission to become one. Unfortunately, the sad reality of Hollywood means abandoning your morals and opening yourself up to criticism, whether this be weight or even a new name to become the sweet ‘all American’ girl the cinema screen continuously churns out. For Betty, to become this big actress, her path to stardom ventures to a very miserable place, forced to take up smoking and swallow pills to starve herself and fit the image of a ‘star.’ She soon is unable to escape this manipulation and control of her manager and is forced to do things for him against her will. It turns out Hollywood is not the amazing starlit town that it is painted out to be in the pictures. This was a very gripping story and certainly projects a lot of truths that were around during that period, for example Judy Garland’s cruel treatment behind the scenes that damaged her so significantly.

This short was greatly distinctive and is hard to get right in many ways, I really enjoyed all the characters. When it comes to 1930’s acting style, it’s all very theatrical and dramatic and I felt that the actors nailed this. This can be tough because there is also a fine line between too exaggerated and fitting with the times and Whistling Dixie certainly gave the audience what they wanted, drama, heartbreak and finally a happy ending. Location scouting can also be a challenge to fit with the period, but every detail including costumes really created a well thought out narrative. There were occasionally some repeated scenes, and it would have been beneficial to include varied shots of her stardom, for example the shots of her dancing with the other ladies, these details add a lot of depth and provides us with more insight to the character and how she is adapting to this new lifestyle.

Regardless, this was a short filled with talent, drama and the realities of what happens behind the scenes of Hollywood fame.