Half Shot at Sunrise

Always say "Dorothy Lee" in the same breath as "Wheeler and Woolsey". Here our favorite pert, loose-limbed ingénue has a grand time singing and dancing and trading quips with the two comedians who are on the loose in Paris in 1918. The script by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Ralph ("Five Dollars-A-Word") Spence, James Ashmore Creelman (who will always be remembered for King Kong) and the famous Broadway librettist Anne Caldwell represents a deliciously zany parade of visual and verbal nonsense which the performers endeavor to keep moving at an admirably fast pace despite the well-meaning efforts of stodgy director Paul Sloane to slow it down. A special pat on the back (if "back" is the right word) for Leni Stengel who makes quite an impression in a whole crowd of lovely Parisians. Production values are remarkably extensive. RKO were obviously expecting to clean up on this one.

RKO gave the vaudeville comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey a second starring feature with this fairly funny piece set in Paris during the Great War. The boys are AWOL from their lowly ranks in the army and running amok amongst the girls in the wicked city. Meanwhile the colonel (former singer George MacFarlane) is juggling a romance with the sparky Olga (scene-stealing Leni Stengel) and the suspicion of his wife (Edna May Oliver's film debut), while his youngest daughter (the team's resident cutie, Dorothy Lee, fixing on curly-haired Wheeler as usual) is on the prowl for someone to ‘be nice' to her.

The movie has a watchable mix of pure comedy (the roller skating waiter, the scented letter, the café scene), songs (the usual duet for Wheeler and Lee; plus a fun bit for Woolsey and Stengal where he ends up dancing in a fountain in his underwear), and romance – with the obligatory happy endings after all the mayhem. What does jar though is the attempt to signpost the war by sending the boys to the Front – this section just doesn't fit somehow.

Two soldiers go AWOL in Paris during World War 1. An enjoyable comedy made by RKO. Dorothy Lee, a favorite of Wheeler and Woolsey is delightful in this film, especially the musical number "Whistling the Blues Away." Edna Mae Oliver has a small but effective role as the snooty wife of a general. Leni Stengel is also very effective as the beautifully dressed and elusive Olga.

Comedy team Wheeler and Woolsey are soldiers in WW I who go AWOL, impersonate military police, flirt with the locals, and cause havoc where-ever they go. Edna May Oliver is in here as the Colonel's wife, with her usual disapproving glances and sarcasm. The Tiller Girls perform a bit in the cafe. The boys pretend to speak french in a terrible, insulting fashion. and everyone pretends not to notice. This was one of their earlier films, and could use a restoration -- the version I saw had some rough spots in both sound and picture quality. It's a fun, light film. The usual sight and banter gags as all their other films, but it's fun to watch the vaudeville bits taped together into a film. Moves pretty slowly, as they try to stay one step ahead of the real MPs. Directed by Paul Sloane, who also directed them in "Cuckoos". I caught this one on Epix channel. It's entertaining.

Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey play a couple of soldiers during the late World War who like to be permanently on holiday in Paris. It seems in Half Shot At Sunrise that the majority of Pershing's military police force are out chasing them. And the police seem to have been trained at the Keystone Academy.

But while all this is going on Wheeler has made the acquaintance of their perennial leading lady Dorothy Lee who is the daughter of their commanding officer George MacFarlane. In fact MacFarlane would like to dally with a Mam'selle or two. If you were married to Edna May Oliver that would be understandable.

I never understood why Wheeler who was always playing these schnook characters before Woody Allen perfected them was always getting the girl. I always thought the strong end of the team was Woolsey with those wisecracks and that ever present cigar which seem to have been implanted in his mouth.

Fans of the duo and others should like this amusing military comedy.