El mundo al revés

Fox Films was betting cinema's first 'buddy film,' 1926's "What Price Glory?" would have enough admirers to pay to see more of the antics of Sergeant Quirt and Captain Flagg. Boy, were they right. When the popular movie's sequel, August 1929's "The Cock-Eyed World," was released, the first two weeks of its playing in national theaters saw record attendance. Ever since, producing sequels has become a staple to Hollywood's more popular films. "The Cock-Eyed World" was cinema's first official movie sequel, qualifying as such because the film had the same actors as its predecessor, as well as the same director and scriptwriters.

The Raoul Walsh-directed follow-up is also one of those rare big-studio movies examining America's involvement after World War One against the Bolsheviks. "The Cock-Eyed World" has Flagg (Victor McLaglen) and Quirt (Edmund Lowe) competing for the same Russian woman when finishing their assignment in Siberia. The United States infantry was shipped over to eastern Russia to assist the White Russians holding their territory against the Red Communists. The Americans' effort was aborted when it became evident the anti-Reds weren't making any headway against the far superior pro-Marxists troops.

The pair end up in South America where they're sent to battle revolutionary rebels in fierce jungle combat. Again, the two woman-hungry soldiers are equally battling each other for the same woman. But they always emerge afterwards by solidifying their friendship while the women remain behind.

Part of the public appeal to see "The Cock-Eyed World" was to hear the "What Price Glory?" lovable characters' voices for the first time. The film was the second-highest box office success in 1929, beaten only by "The Broadway Melody." So popular was the sequel several theaters projected two additional showings after their normal 11 p.m. Closings. The McLaglen/Lowe witty catchphrases caught on microphones were "yards ahead of most early talkers, however leisurely we find it today," noted one reviewer. With the popularity of the pairing, Fox produced two additional so-called "What Price Glory" feature films, 1931's 'Women of All Nations,' and 1933's 'Hot Pepper,' the later one directed by John Blystone, and all featuring McLaglen and Lowe.

A near-remake of Walsh's 1926 WHAT PRICE GLORY, again featuring the rivalry of Marine Sergeants Quirt and Flagg, this time in Russia and Central America. In a convincingly frigid Russia, Flagg (McLaglen) tricks Quirt (Lowe) into a beating from the enormous Sanovich (Ivan Lenow),an irate boyfriend returning home early, while in Central America Quirt steals Mariana Elenita (Lily Damita, effectively vivacious) from under Flagg's nose by posing as a major. In between, on leave in New York, Flagg discovers that Quirt, far from being the big-time promoter he claims, actually runs a Coney Island Guess-Your-Weight concession, but once again the more cunning Quirt plays on Flagg's hot temper to snatch the girl. Raoul Walsh, who knew military life from the inside, celebrates the camaraderie, contempt for authority and rank, and the unflagging pursuit of booze and sex that typify the life of a professional soldier; elements that recur in almost every war film from THE BIG PARADE to M.A.S.H and JARHEAD.

Edmund Lowe and Victor MacLaglen as Quirt and Flagg are back! Hear them talk -- actually, hear Maclaglen shout all his lines. Watch as they slang each other around the world, from Vladivostock to Brooklyn and some unnamed banana republic! See them get snookered by women of all nationalities, especially Lili Damita as a Meso-American senorita! Be annoyed by El Brendel!

And so forth. Fox got Maxwell Anderson and Lawrence Stalling to put their names on this to lend it some authenticity as a sequel; although it's credited as being from a play "Tropic Twins" which they co-wrote, it seems to have gone unproduced. Despite some troubles with line readings and the sound equipment -- or perhaps it was the print I saw, which seemed to be pieced together from eight different battered copies -- director Raoul Walsh does a good job of keeping this film running along. Arthur Edeson clearly deserves some words of praise; the battle sequence which highlights the movie was done wild as a series of tracking shots. Even more, there's some camera movement for composition, and there's a cut and shift of camera angle during a song that indicates some ability to edit the sound track. The swearing that lip-readers reported from WHAT PRICE GLORY? was replaced with the leads sneering at each other and saying "Sez you!" Miss Damita gets to show a lot of leg as she hops alternately on their knees.

This was wildly successful, grossing a reputed $350,000 during its first two weeks at the Roxy Theater. It doubtless contributed to Fox' corporate profits of $13,500,000 that year. There was, as yet, no sign of the Great Depression, even if Mr. Fox had gotten injured in a car crash and the Justice Department was fighting his takeover of MGM.

These are the adventures of marines Flagg and Quirt which were first seen in "What Price Glory"This film really has little plot and just seems to be a combination of episodes where the two characters played by McLaglen and Lowe in what can only be described as a very broad manner,continually try to get the upper hand against each other whether it be in the romantic field or in military matters.The humour is definitely pre code.El Brendel introduces his girl as "the lay of the land".The joke being that she has a map of the country in her hand.Maltin says this film runs like slow molasses and by god he is right.I can only presume that they were so enamoured of the Movietone process that they decided to make this their big production.If you were to cut out all the exchanges where they are saying"Sez you" "Sez me"i think that you would loose half the running time.I know that i thought that films today are far to long.Well it seems that they have many precedents for this.