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The musical shorts collected on Hollywood Rhythm: The Best of Big Bands and Swing (Vol. 2) are delightful, but purists may note that these pieces only occasionally intersect with either big band or swing music. "Artie Shaw's Class in Swing," which deconstructs the elements of the big band sound, qualifies on both counts. What really comes shining through on this collection is the sheer weirdness of early-sound short films, caught somewhere between the slapstick of silent comedy and the music video of the future. How else to explain 1932's "The Musical Doctor," a surreal vehicle for Rudy Vallee, in which the 1920s crooner plays a physician prescribing music for health? Some great stars are seen early in their careers, including Bing Crosby doing one of his signature tunes, "Where the Blue of the Night Meets the Gold of the Day." Der Bingle, who had not yet relaxed into the casual screen persona that made him one of the biggest movie stars of the mid-century, also dons blackface for an uncomfortable sequence in "Dream House" (1932). Cary Grant gives perhaps the worst performance of his marvelous career in support of Anna Chang (and "Pickard's Chinese Syncopators") in "Singapore Sue" (1931), and Ginger Rogers is fun in "Office Blues" (1932), although she does most of her singing stuck behind a desk. She's a secretary trying to land her shy boss ("I like to urge a man, but he's like a clergyman"). The DVD bonus tracks include less inspired musical one-offs featuring the likes of Tallulah Bankhead and Maurice Chevalier. --Robert Horton
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