The Nitwits

The Nitwits are of course Wheeler&Woolsey and in this film they own a cigar stand in the building where music publisher Hale Hamilton has an office. Hamilton's got a secretary played by Betty Grable that Bert is stuck on. Hamilton's married to Evelyn Brent, but never lets that stand in the way of a little nookie.

Anyway, a notorious criminal called the Black Widow is known for sending out letters of extortion demanding money or the victim would be killed. Hamilton decides not to give in and does wind up dead as a result.

Unlike Abbott&Costello's Who Done It which has a lot of the same plot premise, The Nitwits is better edited and the perpetrator doesn't come out of nowhere as in Bud&Lou's film. Unfortunately due to one of the gags which involves Woolsey inventing a chair in which a charge of electricity passes through you so you blurt the truth out, we learn a little prematurely in my opinion who the culprit is.

Anyway because Betty is a prime suspect, Wheeler&Woolsey get themselves involved in the investigation. They prove as much help to the cops as Abbott&Costello did, but like them they do stumble on to the perpetrator.

One reason this film is not revived too often is the climax also involves a bunch of black people being allowed by one of their peers who works as a janitor to use the basement for a quiet crap game. Their fright reactions in the climatic chase of the culprit plays into a lot of racial stereotyping.

Anyway I did like Woolsey's Rube Goldberg contraption as a gag. Maybe they could use a real one of those at Guantanamo.

The humor in the films of Wheeler and Woolsey seemed to go steadily downhill from their early promise in "Rio Rita" to at least this one, made 6 years later. These two very funny guys try mightily to overcome some tepid material in "The Nitwits" and get a boost from the murder mystery back story, which at least challenges you to spot the murderer.

The familiar faces on hand are Betty Grable as Bert's girl friend, Erik Rhodes, best remembered with a foreign accent in some Astaire/Rogers musicals, and Willie Best who plays (what else?) the janitor. Also Arthur Treacher, who has some funny scenes as a hapless tennis instructor enroute to an appointment in the building where most of the story takes place.

There are two good songs in the picture which elevate the proceedings and my rating, "Music In My Heart" and "You Opened My Eyes", which is the better of the two. Wheeler and Grable dance together in that one in a pretty athletic and acrobatic number. It makes you wonder how much better this could have been with better screenwriters.

When the Black Widow murderer strikes at the boss of a music production business, THE NITWITS who run the cigar stand down in the lobby find themselves under investigation for homicide. Can the Boys find the real villain before he kills again?

A rather routine Wheeler & Woolsey comedy (Bert Wheeler is the one with the curly hair; Robert Woolsey has the cigar & spectacles) but the Boys are always fun to watch. Betty Grable is on hand this time as Wheeler’s love interest. Blustery Hale Hamilton is one of the Black Widow’s victims. Erik Rhodes has a small role as a suspect. Willie Best is on hand to add to the madcap finale. Film mavens will recognize Arthur Treacher as the man with the tennis equipment.

Wheeler & Grable sing “You Opened My Eyes” - Woolsey warbles “The Black Widow’s Gonna Get You If You Don’t Watch Out”. There is some racial stereotyping, not unusual in Hollywood films of this period.

Johnnie (Bert Wheeler) and Newton (Robert Woolsey) are best friends who own a cigar shop. Newton invents a shocking lie detector. Johnnie has a crush on Mary Roberts (Betty Grable). Mary's sleazy boss Winfield Lake needs a 'murder song'. Wannabe songwriter Johnnie with Newton's help write a song about a murderous Black Widow. Unbeknownst to them, Winfield is actually being threatened by blackmailer Black Widow. His wife forces the cheapskate Winfield to hire private detective William Darrell.

Ok! I laughed hard at nothing rhyming with oranges. That's a great joke. They do keep bringing it back for the diminishing returns. Maybe they should have given it to Wheeler. This comedic pairing is not making me laugh a lot. They are mildly amusing at times. This movie is mildly amusing at times. Take the cop hat for example. It's a slow meandering joke that isn't all that funny until Johnnie comes back with it. It feels like a long walk to get to one good laugh. That's this movie.

The Nitwits puts Wheeler and Woolsey into a murder mystery and as you can imagine, they manage to cause havoc as usual. Betty Grable is on hand as Bert's love interest but she doesn't do much beyond one number they sing together early on. Most of the film is took up with daft murder and chase stuff, one or two set pieces working really well but the film isn't as snappy and fun as some of their earlier work.

The director, George Stevens, went on to direct the likes of A Place in the Sun and Woman of the Year, but this early effort shows what he was up to in the first 15 years of his long career.