PRIMITIVE SCREWHEADS

So This Is Africa 1933

So This Is Africa 1933 Screenplay by Norman Krasna and direction by Edward F Cline. It's the boys only comedy for Columbia Pictures and it's a goofy bit of business.

Robert Wheeler and Bert Woolsey play vaudevillians with a lion act. They're broke, the lions are hungry and the hotel is ready to toss them out for not paying their bill. Across town Ultimate Pictures is having a big meeting about their latest blunder. The big man in charge has hired Mrs Johnson Martini, a naturalist with African expertise, to film an animal picture in Africa. They've just learned she's afraid of animals and the studio is in a uproar. I suspect that Mrs Johnson Martini refers to the travelers and film makers, Osa and Martin Johnson.

The studio hits upon the idea of getting W&W's tame lions. They'll send them to Africa with Mrs Martini and make their film. It's a bonkers idea that seems to have been forgotten once the group gets to Africa. Mrs Martini seems set on wooing Robert. Bert gets picked up while sleepwalking. Literally, Tarzana picks him up in his night shirt and swings him through the trees to her tree house.

Wheeler and Woolsey are reunited just as the Amazon's arrive. There's a whole tribe of them and they're set on romance. Luckily for our guys a whole tribe of Tarzan lookalikes show up for the annual grab a bride ritual. The movie ends with the W&W in the village, married with children. 

It's a pretty wacky film with some good jokes and some bad. It's about average for their films, despite the dumb studio plot line. It's a wonder they're still in business with that level of intelligence. It's not available on DVD for some reason but you can find it on YouTube in the link above. 

Hold 'Em Jail 1932

Hold 'Em Jail 1932 Story by Tim Whelan and Lew Lipton, screenplay by Walter DeLeon, SJ Perelman, Eddie Welch and Mark Sandrich, directed by Norman Taurog.

Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey are really stupid, they try a robbery prank and sent to prison for using real guns. The prison warden is played by Edgar Kennedy, Edna May Oliver plays his wife, Betty Grable plays his daughter. I also recognized Robert Armstrong, Roscoe Ates and Warren Hymer in the cast.

The boys don't fit into prison life very well, they do get on the prison football team. Chaos on the football field and other nonsense makes poor Edgar's life a nightmare. He is a rather excitable guy to start with and to make things worse, Robert flirts with Edna, and Betty has her eye on Bert. It's a breezy bit of business, only 66 minutes, and there's plenty of noise and running about. It lost a bit of money, $55,000, at the box office. I still liked it.

Girl Crazy 1932

Girl Crazy 1932 Screenplay by Walter DeLeon, Herman J Mankiewicz, Eddie Welsh and Tim Whelan, directed by William A Seiter. It's based on the 1930 play of the same name by Guy Bolton and John McGowan. Guy Bolton had worked with PG Wodehouse on a number of plays in the 1920s. I read the movie wasn't much like the play.

 

Three songs from the play, written by George and Ira Gershwin, were used in the movie. Two are familiar to me, Bidin' My Time and I Got Rhythm. The latter was introduced in the play by Ethel Merman. Ginger Rogers was the star of the play. There was a 1943 adaptation of the play with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland.

  

Bert Wheeler is a cab driver, he's driving Robert Woolsey across the California desert to a remote gambling place in a tiny town. Stanley Fields is the local thug, he's been killing the sheriffs as they've been hired. He runs the gambling and he wants to put the saloon Robert has come to work at out of business. Poor Bert gets signed up to be the new sheriff. Robert tries to keep him from getting killed, after helping get him elected. He wants to keep Stanley from getting control of the saloon.

 

Besides too much singing, there's some knockabout shenanigans, some romance, and the usual sort of things one would expect in a Wheeler and Woolsey film. They don't change their style much in their run. The RKO records say it lost $150,000, the film cost $532,000 and the box office was $555,000. I don't know what the theaters got out of the box office in those days but I could guess. I enjoyed the running about and speeded up some of the songs.

The Lad 1935

The Lad 1935 Based on the 1928 play The Lad by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by Gerald Fairlie, directed by Henry Edwards.

A breezy crime comedy with Gordon Harker. The movie opens before he gets on the scene, a pricey necklace is being stolen from a rich guy's house, one of the men is caught and sent to jail, the necklace has not been found. Gorden is in the slammer, the day before he is to be released he overhears the robber tell another man where the necklace is hidden. Outside Gordon skips along to the mansion where he takes advantage of a mistaken identity plot point. He winds up being a droll sort of hero, helping most of the family with their various problems. It's more like a comedic play than a crime movie. It's not any better than average but it's fun and there's a happy ending. Another one that I would watch again sometime.

The Mysterious Mr Davis 1939

The Mysterious Mr Davis 1939 Based on the 1928 novel The Partner by Jenaro Prieto, screenplay by Jacques Prévert and Cecil Madden, directed by Claude Autant-Lara. A quota quickie from RKO. I picked up the UK DVD awhile ago, you can buy one from Amazon for about 12 bucks. 

Henry Kendall is the guy on the right of the photo under the title above, he needs some readies. The lady is Kathleen Kelly, she plays Henry's wife, the other fellow is Guy Middleton, he plays the crooked neighbor. It's Guy that introduces the out of work Henry to some shady people. Henry invents a partner that prevents him from committing to anything to quickly.

Henry uses his never seen partner to his advantage and winds up rather well off. When things get trickier, Henry makes the mysterious Mr Davis disappear and everyone's goes wild trying to find him. Henry goes to South America with the family. Alistair Sim plays a loony ex-banker and that got a laugh from me. I got a few other laughs through the production and was happy to have bought that DVD. I would want to watch this again sometime.

Peach O' Reno 1932

Peach O' Reno 1932 Written by Tim Whelan, Ralph Spence and Eddie Welch, directed by William A Seiter.

Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey are divorce lawyers in Reno. Woolsey agrees to represent Cora Witherspoon in her divorce from Joseph Cawthorn and Bert agrees to represent Joseph. They both suggest that their client be caught with another person.

An unhappy customer of Bert's shows up with a need for some vengeance. To further complicate their lives, the pair run a casino out of their office. The usual gags and pratfalls are supplemented by some cross dressing as Bert dresses as a woman to hide from the murderous husband. Enjoyable.

Caught Plastered 1931

Caught Plastered 1931 Written by Douglas MacLean, Ralph Spence, Eddie Welsh and Jane Murfin, directed by William A Seiter.

Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey play out of work vaudeville stars who befriend an old lady and help her turn her drug store business around and save it from being stolen by a local creep businessman called Harry.

One of the things they do to promote the business is by producing their own radio program set in the store. Harry the creepy businessman is really a bootlegger and he slips some alcohol laced lemon drink over on the boys. People love the stuff and drunk people get noticed by the cops. The boys out dirty Harry and put his ass in the slammer. Everything's A-OK.

There's the usual jokes and a bit of romance between Bert and Dorothy Lee. Other cast members I knew were Lucy Beaumont, Jason Robards and Charles B Middleton. Made me laugh but I'm rather fond of the two guys heading the picture.

Curtain At Eight 1933

Curtain At Eight 1933 Based on the Octavus Roy Cohen novel The Back Stage Mystery, screenplay by Edward T Lowe Jr, directed by E Mason Hopper.

Paul Cavanagh is an actor, while he's got a secret wife, his poorly treated secretary, he's also taken up with three of the women in the show. It's not surprising that on his birthday, while blowing out his candles in the dark, someone snuffs him out.

The police are called in, C Aubrey Smith plays the older mature detective and Sam Hardy is the younger guy. Sam's the kind of guy who's prone to jump to conclusions, his plan seems to arrest everyone for a bit. Aubrey goes about with sensible detecting methods and soon figures out who did it. For good reason he lets Sam have all the credit.

I thought it was entertaining. Glad I watched it and would watch it again sometime. You can watch a copy on Daily Motion in the link above.

The Sap From Syracuse 1930

The Sap From Syracuse 1930 It's based on a play by John Griffith Wray, Jack O'Donnell and John Hayden, screenplay by Gertrude Purcell, directed by A Edward Sutherland.

A comedy with Jack Oakie as a working class stiff who winds up with a bit of cash. He'd been working on the Panama Canal when he inherited enough to leave and follow his dream. He takes a sea voyage to Europe. on the ship he gets mistaken for the main engineer of the Canal, the man is rumored to be aboard the ship but incognito.

Ginger Rogers provides the romantic interest, she's going to Macedonia to check on her mines. She believes Jack is the engineer and he might be able to help her keep from being cheated by her creepy guardian. That dick has motive to keep her mines shut down, she'll default on her loan, his syndicate has the loan, they'll take the mine in lieu of payment.

It all works out well for everyone but that creepy guardian guy, he's the sort that needs a good kick down a few flights of stairs. It's about average, there's some snappy patter, the cast is fun but the mistaken identity is a bit weak. One I'd watch this again some time.

The Return Of The Frog 1938

The Return Of The Frog 1938 Based on the novel The India-Rubber Men by Edgar Wallace, screenplay by Gerald Elliott and Ian Hay, directed by Maurice Elvey. It's a sequel to The Frog from the previous year. I haven't seen that but will keep an eye out for it.

Gordon Harker is Inspector Elk, similar to the other police Inspectors he's played in the past. He'd follow this film with the Inspector Hornleigh trio of films. In this film Inspector Elk is on the trail of The Frog, a criminal who likes big crimes. An American police detective is over for training and he partners with Elk to go after The Frog. The pair get around and visit a lot of people and places. There's a bit of humor, some fun dialog and a good cast. I enjoyed it and saved a copy from the YouTuber that posted it. I'd want to watch it again someday. The guy who posted it doesn't leave stuff up too long, it will be gone in a week or so. Some else will probably post it along the road.