PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

The Black Hand Gang 1930

The Black Hand Gang 1930 Based on a play called Black Hand George by Bert Lee and R P Weston, screenplay by Victor Kendall, directed by Monty Banks.

Wee Georgie Wood is the kid in the black suit, he's third from the left, he was 34 years old when the picture was made but he's playing a young boy. Georgie started appearing on the stage at age 5 and made a good bit of cash in the music halls of the UK. He was 2 silent pictures and a TV movie from 1951. He appeared in three TV shows, one in 1951, another in 1959, the third in 1970.

Georgie is head of the Black Hand Gang, a bunch of poor kids who run the streets. They have some adventures and cause a bit of trouble. Somehow they hook up with a rich kid who invites them over for tea. It doesn't go so well and there's plenty of broken crockery at the end of the meal. A street encounter with a rival gang leaves the local push cart vendors in shambles. It's a tough neighborhood.

Mostly it was kind of fun, some of the gags work well enough, some don't. The acting is a mixed bag, kind of broad but watchable. I'd watched a copy off the Internet Archive, while looking for images I found the cover to the DVD I already had. I'll be getting to that set of British comedies after I get through the other DVDs in The British Film series from Network. It all takes time.

Death At Broadcasting House 1934

Death At Broadcasting House 1934 Bases on the novel Death at Broadcasting House
by Val Gielgud & Holt Marvell, screenplay by Val Gielgud, Holt Marvell and Basil Mason, directed by Reginald Denham. Val is John Gielgud's brother, at the time he wrote the novel he was the BBC Head Of Productions.The film is set in the BBC's new center Broadcasting House. It was built in 1932 and it's still in use today.

The film is part of The British Film series from Network. I have a stack of their DVDs still to watch, I had stopped buying stuff from the UK when the postage prices rose so much, then I stopped being interested in watching movies. I figured to take a bit of a dip into the stack, as long as interest holds. Nice thing about these old British films is they're often fairly short and briskly paced.

During a radio broadcast a man is strangled. An inspector from Scotland Yard is called into the case. He soon finds the dead guy didn't have any friends around the building. There's a passel of characters, we see them moving about in the offices and studios of Broadcast House. We get a bit of what it's like to record a radio program. There's music from some lady singers and a band or two, there's even dancing girls. It's got a fairly good mystery and a nice sense of humor. Over all it was quite entertaining. I'd watch it again sometime.

A Man Betrayed 1936

 

A Man Betrayed 1936 Dorrell McGowan and Stuart E McGowan wrote the story and screenplay, John H Auer directed.

A fun crime comedy with Edward J Nugent as an oil stock salesman who's discovered that his bosses have invested the money from stock sales in the stock market. They've lost it all. While Edward is off to South America to see the sate of the wells, the head partner kills himself out of shame. The other two are more hardened and decide to frame Edward for the murder of his boss. They hire some scumbags to do the dirty work and poor Edward returns only to find himself arrested and charged for murder. He's quickly tried and convicted. Only a fluke chance springs him from the ride to the death house, now he's got a chance to try to prove himself innocent. He gets a good bit of help from his reverend brother, his fiance and some crooked fight promoters. Nice tight little story, quick moving and snappy dialog. I got a few laughs out of it and that's alright with me.

High Flyers 1937

High Flyers 1937 Screenplay by Benny Rubin, Bert Granet and Byron Morgan, direction by Edward Cline. The last film the boys would make together.

Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey run a carnival ride that lets the rider try to fly an early plane simulator. An idiot smuggler hires them to fly a plane for him and not having any real experience flying a plane they take on the job because of the cash. They are told they are flying to pick up some news photos of a hot story. It reality the smuggler has stolen a police plane and the photos are a load of cocaine and some stolen diamonds.

The pair manage to fly the plane after a fashion but there's trouble in the cockpit once they find the cocaine and spill it everywhere. The plane crashes in a rich guys garden and there's plenty of mayhem once they get settled in that guy;s house. Eventually the crooks are caught and things settle down.

It was pretty funny and that makes it sadder that there aren't too be anymore. Bert would make a couple of features, one in 1939 and another in 1942, and that would be it but for a couple of short films in the early 1950s.

On Again - Off Again 1937

On Again - Off Again 1937 Screenplay by Nat Perrin and Benny Rubin, direction by Edward Cline. Robert Woolsey was suffering from kidney pain during the shooting of the film and was in constant pain. He still manages to put in a good performance.

Robert Woolsey and Bert Wheeler are nincompoops who own a drug company together. They are feuding over some trivial bit and constantly threatening to break up the partnership. Their lawyer sets up a contest and Woolsey is the winner, he gets to be in charge of the company, poor Wheeler, he gets to be Woolsey's valet for a year.

There's plenty of big sets and a couple of big production numbers. There are the usual lot of jokes and a good bit of hitting and yelling. Some of it made me laugh but I was sad that I'm almost to the end of their run together.

Mummy's Boys 1936

Mummy's Boys 1936 Story by Jack Townley and Lew Lipton, screenplay by Jack Townley, Philip G Epstein and Charles E Roberts, directed by Fred Guiol with an assist from James Anderson.

A stupid rich guy believes that there's a curse on the stolen treasures from an Egyptian tomb. He wants to return the treasures so he hires Robert Woolsey and Bert Wheeler to help him. They are rather imbecilic ditch diggers with plenty of the usual quirks. Bert forgets things and needs a nap to revive himself, Robert is just a big lying braggart.  Willie Best joins the group on the expedition. I always like seeing Willie in a picture.

Strange things happen on the trip but they manage to get to the tomb. Despite the disappearance of their boss, the boy follow his instructions to dig into the tomb and put the treasures back. They manage to get caught by the evil guy and sealed in the tomb. There's plenty of running about and yelling. It's about average for the guys, a few laughs are always good.

Silly Billies 1936

Silly Billies 1936 Story by Thomas Lennon and Fred Guiol, screenplay by Al Boasberg and Jack Townley, directed by Fred Guiol. A period peace with the fellows in the 1840s.

Robert Woolsey and Bert Wheeler are dentists, they set up in a town the day before all the citizens leave for the California gold rush in a wagon train. The guys overhear the local scumbag plot to wipe out the wagon train with the help of a neighboring tribe. The local scumbag is the wagon train's scout. He plans to leave the wagon train and let the tribe attack, once the new settlers are wiped out, they split the loot with the tribe.

Wheeler and Woolsey ride out to tell the wagon train but they get framed for the plot by an unfortunate slip of Woolsey's tongue. There's plenty of running about and cowboy movie stuff going on but they do save the citizens. There are jokes, some are fairly good, some not. Sadly the movie is often marred by the tired old racial stereotypes depicting Native Americans. It's the 22nd film the guys made together in 8 years, I'm including the shorts they made together, and they still have 3 more to go before Woolsey passes away in 1938.

The Rainmakers 1935

The Rainmakers 1935 Story by Albert Traynor and Fred Guiol, screenplay by Grant Garrett and Leslie Goodwins, directed by Fred Guiol.

Robert Woolsey is a rainmaker and Bert Wheeler is a farmer in the Midwest. Before Robert can help the locals by unleashing his rainmaking device a sand storm blows in. The farmers are mad and blame him. He escapes and takes refuge in Bert's house. The house blows away, the boys were safe in the root cellar, so Bert joins Robert in a trip to California for his next job.

The manager of the bank asked Robert to come see if he can make it rain, the fields are parched and the farmers could loose their crops and their farms if the dry spell won't break. The big rich farmer in the area is using the poor farmer's financial state to ram rod them into supporting a water system to pull water from a lake outside of town. He's making money either way, first by gouging the local farmer's by inflating the cost of the water system, and he stands to get some of their land real cheap if they can't come up with the money to buy into the project.

The bank manager has extended the bank's assets trying to help the farmers by not foreclosing on their loans. His daughter is played by Dorothy Lee and she's Bert's romantic interest here. Bert and Robert break a bunch of stuff before they blow up two locomotives in the big finale. It's fairly entertaining but the locomotives sequence goes on a bit too long. Still, I got a few good laughs out of it anyway. Only 4 more features to go.

 

 

The Nitwits 1935

The Nitwits 1935 Story by Stuart Palmer, screenplay by Fred Guiol and Al Boasberg, direction by George Stevens.

Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey work in a cigar stand in a building where a radio station operates. Bert really wants to write songs and Robert is a bit of an inventor. They get mixed up in a murder case with the usual chaotic results. Fred Keating, Betty Grable and Willie Best are in the cast. 

Not quite as much fun as some of their films and the black characters are quite stereotyped. Just barely average.

Kentucky Kernels 1934

Kentucky Kernels 1934 Screenplay by Lee Marcus and HN Swanson, directed by George Stevens with an assist from Jean Yarbrough.

Robert Woolsey is the Great Elmer and Bert Wheeler is Willie, they're a couple of out of work magicians. They help a guy adopt a kid, Spanky McFarland plays Spanky, you might know him from the Little Rascals. The guy elopes and The Great Elmer and company get stuck with Spanky. Turns out he's a genial little fellow who likes breaking windows.

Mary Carisle, Noah Beery, Margaret Dumont and Willie Best appear. I can't think of a time when Willie Best appearing in a film didn't cheer me up. Sadly not all of his roles are up to his talent, here he's got a good size part and plenty of stuff to do. Bob Hope called Willie the "best actor I know" while working with him on The Ghost Breakers.

Spanky inherits some money and the boys go along to Kentucky where they get into a family feud with the Wakefields. There's plenty of running about and yelling with a bit of romance and a lot of gun shooting near the end. It all turns out well for the boys in the end. Another fun film.