Hook Line and Sinker

This is a dated, but funny piece of 1930s Markeiing and Advertising. It is not highlighted as such in its description, but the bottom line of this film, and the primary reason it is funny, is that the advertising and marketing of a run-down hotel frequented by the rich makes for a fairly amusing premise. Wheeler and Woolsey, a moderately successful comedy team of the early 30s, are the protagonist in the film, even though they are scheming to make money off of the hapless woman who happens to have money from a rich family. Depression audiences loved films about people who had money, because they had none themselves. So these films were the stuff of dreams. Enjoy the silliness.

Wilbur Boswell and Addington Ganzy abandon their insurance business (read scam) and enter the hotel business with Mary Marsh, who has runaway from home to escape her mother and the family's lawyer Blackwell, whom Mary is being forced to marry by her mother. Unknown to Mary, her mother, and Boswell & Ganzy, is that Blackwell is running a criminal organization and its main hideout is the basement of the hotel. Also coming to the hotel are every sort of criminal set out to crack the hotel safe, so its up to our two heroes, along with a bizarre house detective and the always sleeping bellboy to save the day. A very enjoyable and funny film from Wheeler and Woolsey with Dorothy Lee around again as Mary. As with the majority of the W&W films there are a bizarre bunch of characters and plenty of zaniness to please the audience. Great ending with the shootout. Rating, 8.

if you like old comedies, give this one a chance, please remember the era is 1930,the quick one liners are still funny today,it will remind you of the famous marx brothers but at the same time is different and unique,this one is not a musical as are some other w+w movies,i hope im not stretching it when i call this classic american vaudville, these guys somehow got forgotten. funny comedy team!!

This is a very funny film starring Wheeler and Woolsey, a comedy team that is all but forgotten these days. Their brand of humor tended to be verbal and punny, but they were also adept physical comedians as well.

Here the pair end up helping, and romancing, a runaway fom a rich family. She's inherited a hotel and the boys decide to help her turn it into THE hot spot. Using their way with words they manage to have newspapers write the place up---mentioning how safe their safe is. This of course brings a steady stream of crooks all of which want to be the one to crack the safe.

Extremely well written, the film suffers from a few slow spots where the fast and furious dialog stop for a silent shot or moment. Normally it wouldn't be bad, but here it off sets the pacing of the film, which for the most part is fast moving, even if it seems not to have a direction.

If you want to see a good comedy you haven't seen before, by all means pick this up, its 75 minutes well spent.

This comedy starts out very well with a promising set-up, and although it cannot maintain the same standard throughout, it's mostly entertaining, if rather silly. Wheeler and Woolsey make a pretty good comic team, and the complicated, deliberately implausible plot provides them with some good moments. Director Eddie Cline, better known for the comedies he made with Buster Keaton and W.C. Fields, keeps things on track.

We are first introduced to the two leads in a funny scene where they try to talk a policeman out of giving them a ticket. Shortly afterwards, they are involved in all kinds of complications at a run-down hotel, involving a large cast of dubious characters. While the pace is a little uneven, it keeps your attention, and there are also a couple of clever lines of dialogue. While it doesn't quite fulfill its early promise, this is definitely worth a look if you enjoy comedies from the 30's.