In der Hölle ist der Teufel los

This movie pops up regularly on TV or at revue cinemas and I'm always surprised at how many youngsters are familiar with it.

Olsen and Johnson never had the following of Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello but they were capable vaudeville comics who made a few movies, Hellzapoppin and Crazy House are the best remembered. Hellzapoppin is the a much sanitized film version of Nat Perrin's famous stage revue.

The jokes come fast and furious, some of them are very dated now and some were never very funny to begin with, but you don't have time to analyze, you're into the next before you know it. There are some familiar faces Misha Auer, who had a long career playing the same character (a Russian aristocrat with dubious credentials), the loud and brassy Martha Raye and the very funny Hugh Herbert with his "yoo-hoo's" and mumbled asides the audience. The special effects were innovative for their time.

As brief respites from the madness there are a number of variety acts, synchronized swimming, crazy diving, a few pleasant songs with the corny lyrics typical of the period and the fantastic dancing of the Harlem Congeroo Dancers which even today is greeted by gasps of amazement and applause.

Well you can't say the maker's of this movie weren't trying to entertain.

I grew up on this movie, I have the movie completely memorized and I still laugh at the jokes. Granted I must say that its not for everyone, people who like a more sophisticated kind of humor may not like this movie. But if you want good old fashioned slap stick, one-liner, running gag, and completely random kind of comedies this is for you. I must say that the jokes do go by pretty fast and you could miss a good one liner really easily if you don't give the movie your full attention. Also, a good copy of the film may be a little difficult to come by, but its worth watching. If anyone in the movie business is reading this that has the power to do so, please get this out on DVD!

This chaotic, self-reflexive romp about the translation of a stage play into a film production and finally into a film screening is packed with fun: Olson and Johnson crack one-liners, Martha Raye belts out some terrific songs, and Mischa Auer offers his most elegant clowning. The dance sequence, by the incredible Harlem Congeroo dancers, is unbeatable: energetic, explosive, and exhausting. The routine romance between Robert Paige (as a would be writer/director) and Jane Frazee (a wealthy amateur actor) provides some welcome quiet in the midst of the almost ceaseless camera tricks and sight gags.

It seems a lot of reviewers have branded this movie as "dated but good"...when in fact it's incredibly ahead of its time.

I wouldn't be surprised to hear that the surrealists cried tears of jealousy when it premiered; the neverending, irreverent gags and complete disregard for time and space leaves avant-garde films like Un Chien Andalou in the dust.

The humour of Hellzapoppin' is not dumb or childish but incredibly smart.

A beautiful, fun, hilarious movie and arguably a proto-postmodern classic

that deserves a reevaluation and wider circulation.

For those who feel the Marxes were the last word in over the top hollywood product, I heartily recommend this adaptation of the Broadway show that made Ole and Johnson such a huge sensation, albiet briefly. This one has non-stop gags (not all of which work), and is unlike anything I have ever seen the studio system produce. H.C. Potter is credited with the direction, but its hard to imagine him doing more than assembling the cast each morning and saying "Okay folks - go nuts!"

A habitue of the 60s might describe this as a Crosby and Hope road picture on acid, but that's missing the point. Audiences embraced this thing in part because it represented an exhausting escape from what was becoming a pretty stressful world.

See it whenever you can!