Crazy House

The frantic and anarchic style of Olsen And Johnson was never put to better use than in Crazy House. The boys have Universal Pictures in a state of siege at the thought of their returning to the lot after the success of Hellzapoppin'. Great success, but no one wants to work with them again. A whole lot of familiar faces show up to tell them just that.

When they do get to see producer Thomas Gomez he dismisses them, but aspiring director Patric Knowles sticks up for them. So Ole, Chic, and Pat decide to make their own film and when name stars refuse them, they hire unknowns like carhop Martha O'Driscoll as a singer.

The big problem is when they mistake Percy Kilbride for a wealthy backer. Percy is a refugee from a rubber room who only thinks he has great wealth. So when the creditors don't get paid, they hatch a plot to steal Olsen and Johnson's labor of love and laughs.

Just about everyone who was working on the Universal lot with the exception of Abbott&Costello and Deanna Durbin got into Crazy House even for only a walk on. And I did love the fact that a whole slew of second banana comics got a bit in this film and that would include Billy Gilbert, Shemp Howard, and Edgar Kennedy as a sorely tried judge. And Cass Daley gets a dual role as Cass Daley and her lookalike cousin Sadie whom the boys sign for the film.

Add Allan Jones singing The Donkey Serenade and you have a great comic film. Jones does this as part of a stall during the premiere of their masterpiece. Why they are stalling is for you to see. And still more musical guest stars that I can't name all of them. In fact this is the only all star extravaganza that was filmed from 1941-45 without a single reference to the war.

Ole and Chic were not really at their best on screen. Like Al Jolson you had to see them live to get the full effect of their zany comedy. Rowan&Martin were the closest to them with their anarchic Laugh-In show. Still Crazy House and Hellzapoppin' are the best examples of their work.

I just saw this film in NYC at the Film Forum, where it was introduced by a nephew of Billy Gilbert, who has a small part in the film.

It was one wild ride.

The audience enjoyed the film thoroughly for what it is, a B movie musical starring Olsen & Johnson that is insane. The comedy duo has to break into Universal in order to make a film there, since no one wants them - in fact, a secretary, on learning who they are, jumps into her desk - we got to see that bit twice because the film broke.

If you want to call the plot a plot, O & J run into difficulties getting financing for their film and, faced with huge debts, decide to auction it to the highest bidder. The film they make is awfully short.

Some of O & J's bits are quite funny and others are of the groan variety. There are many familiar faces in the film - Patric Knowles, Percy Kilbride, Hans Conried, Thomas Gomez, Franklin Pangborn, Shemp Howard, and some funny cameos by Universal stars in the beginning of the movie when they realize Olsen & Johnson are in the building - Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, Nigel Bruce, Alan Curtis, Leo Carrillo.

Allan Jones sings "The Donkey Serenade," the De Marcos dance, and the end of the film within a film is a huge musical number done by The Glenn Miller Singers, Count Basie's Orchestra, the Delta Rhythm Boys, Leighton Noble's orchestra, and Chandra Kaly's Dancers.

"Crazy House" has a great deal of energy and is a real oddity. It was fun to watch, but I don't think I'd want to watch it again.

1943's "Crazy House" may not strike many as Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson's best film, but it's one of the highlights of their Universal resurgence in the 1940s, a gaggle of guest stars in a wacky satire of Tinseltown that would be repeated by Mel Brooks' "Silent Movie" in 1976, and "The Happy Hooker Goes Hollywood" in 1980. The picture opens with Olsen and Johnson making their triumphant return through the studio gates, or rather flying over it since studio chief N. G. Wagstaff (Thomas Gomez) made it clear that they stay locked out; they proclaim themselves 'Universal's most sensational comedy team,' and are immediately welcomed as Abbott and Costello! This is by far the most engaging part, familiar faces scrambling to escape the shadow of Olsen and Johnson, from Andy Devine and Leo Carrillo preferring the company of a skunk, to Nigel Bruce's Doctor Watson making the announcement to Basil Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes, who is already aware of their presence: "I am Sherlock Holmes, I know everything!" (the duo were currently shooting "The Spider Woman"). Nothing else comes close to this self spoofing, and six contract players include this title on their resumes without actually appearing on screen: Lon Chaney, Evelyn Ankers, Louise Allbritton, Turhan Bey, Grace McDonald, and Gale Sondergaard. Chaney would join Andy Devine and Leo Carrillo for the next Olsen and Johnson caper, "Ghost Catchers," but not their screen finale, 1945's "See My Lawyer." Today's viewers might understandably find it difficult to tell the team apart, Ole Olsen the short one with high pitched giggle, his more straight laced partner a smidgen taller.

When I was only six, my mother and father sent my older brother to

take me to watch the Olson and Johnson routine at a New York

City nightclub called THE CARNIVAL. I had been aware of the

antics of the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and

Costello, but now I could see first hand the live slapstick of

involved comedy.

The film "Crazy House" is a perfect example of keeping the wild art

of updated slapstick alive on film. It is an update of the pie

throwing of early silents and the progression from Charlie Chaplin

to Charlie Chase. This film even has small roles for all the lesser

known comics of that era. Their roles in this movie are much the

same as the bit inserts into "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World".

For those a little bit younger than myself, this film would be called

the progenitor of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh In", a TV series that ran

from 1968-1973.

All I can say is, "If you want to see the visualization of one liners as

presented in the 1940's try and get to see this film". In the short

while, watch "Laugh In" reruns and prep yourself for a look back

into comedy history.

Olsen & Johnson go to Universal Studios to film their successor to Hellzapoppin', while everyone at the studio runs for cover. Since no one at the studio will back them, O&J decide to return to Miracle Pictures to get their film started. Since O&J can get no bankable stars, they decide to do the novel approach of having a film w/ new faces including singer Marjorie Nelson (who happens to catch the eye of director Ed MacLean). When films creditors find out that O&J's backer is an eccentric sort who thinks he's a millionaire broker, they put an injunction on the film, and its up to Olsen & Johnson to prove their case in court to save the film. Probably this film was on the same page w/ the WC Fields film, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break with the plot of the comedian(s) trying to film the movie. Olsen & Johnson are up to their same antics again, but after the opening scene of the Universal lot running for cover, the film can't maintain the pace of that scene or what made Hellzapoppin a laugh riot. The musical numbers are nice, but there just seems to be so many in the film, that this is a jukebox film more than a comedy. Still the film has many funny moments and is a sure treat. Rating, 7.