All Over Town

Olsen and Johnson have a trained seal and they want to book it into a show at Mary Howard's theater. The trouble is that Miss Howard is about to lose the theater, so Olsen and Johnson....

Why am I discussing plot in an Olsen and Johnson movie? It's all just an excuse get from one comedy set-piece to the next under the nominal direction of James Horne, with lots of supporting comics like Fred Kelsey and James Finlayson and Franklin Pangborn and Getrude Astor. There's a sequence at the chaotic boarding house run by Blanche Payson. There's a scene at the chaotic theater when they're trying to put on a show. There's the scene when Fred Kelsey comes in to investigate the murder. There's the scene.....

What murder you ask? It doesn't matter, it's all an excuse to get to the next gag set-up. They made this one for Republic, so it's certainly a step down from trouping for Warner Brothers in 1930.

The pair were burlesque comedians with timing and chaotic gags to match. They had entered show business as musicians -- Olsen was credited as the lyricist for "You're in the Army Now." The movies kept trying to make them a working screen pair, and they would appear in several more movies, until Universal filmed their stage hit HELLZAPOPPIN', which was basically a collection of chaotic gags. Then Abbott and Costello came along and knocked them out of the box.

And this movie? There are some funny moments in it, mostly when they're trying to put one over on Jimmy Finlayson, but despite Horne, an ailing Jimmy Parrott building gags and the other alumni from Roach, their style didn't match anything, except a plotless chaos.

I'm a person whose taste in film runs to strong plots and structured stories. But in the case of Olsen and Johnson one doesn't really need them, they get in the way.

Even the Marx Brothers had to have a structured story line for their films, but Ole and Chic had to have them forced on their persons. All Over Town is the story of a couple Oklahoma filling station operators and part time vaudevillians with a seal act who are behind at their theatrical boarding house with their rent. Somehow the sale of their filling station which nets them the astronomical sum of $150.00 makes some think they've inherited a bankroll. As we learn that term is relative.

They try to get a show going at Mary Howard's theater, but the place has been closed down for years due to an actor's homicide there. Then another homicide of a potential show backer in the same place almost finishes Olsen and Johnson and the seal for good. But a choleric radio sponsor played by Laurel and Hardy regular James Finlayson gives them their break with a promise of them solving the crime. It's close run thing after that.

I have to say that in his scenes Finlayson proves just as perfect a foil for Ole and Chic as he was for Stan and Ollie. And Stanley Fields who does equally good in comedy and drama has a great scene as the murderer's henchmen who gets outsmarted by the seal.

All Over Town is a fine introduction to the zany comedy of Olsen And Johnson.

A simple telling of the plot would go something like this- Olsen and Johnson talk their way into putting on a show in a jinxed theater. The theater isn't really jinxed but is wanted by some one who'll do anything to get it. A murder occurs during a rehearsal after which Olsen and Johnson state that they will reveal who done it on a radio program, Unfortunately the murderer has other plans. Since any detailed explanation of the goings on would take as long as this hour long film, you'd better just find a copy and watch it to see for yourself.

Lets face it, Olsen and Johnson never really made a movie with anything that resembled a plot. Oh sure the movies have a through lines but its a rare film that ever went there on a straight course. Olsen and Johnson loved to take the scenic route to "The End". Plots were never more than something to hang a never ending series of gags on. Here the plot takes frequent detours and stops for what is often inspired lunacy. In most of the duo's films you really don't care about the fits and starts since you're laughing too hard. Here the fits and starts cause an unevenness to the affair with some bits going on too long and some bits not long enough (for example the bit with the radio program is rather too short, as if they came up with the idea, then ran out of time only to realize that they really had to do something with it). Its an odd mix that makes it not quite as good as the other films I've seen by the pair. Sure its funny but it doesn't hang together a well as it should (and the disappointment is only in comparison to other Olsen and Johnson films).

Is this film worth seeing. Yes its funny and it will make you laugh. But while I am a fan of the stars, and I know you will laugh, you probably won't come away as fans since this is a lesser film. (though you might want to try to get a second classic comedy to round out your nights viewing)

For a movie made on a shoestring during the Great Depression, this movie delivers plenty of laughs -- which is precisely what it was designed to do. It isn't educational, and it doesn't have a "moral", and it isn't high-brow. Neither were the Stooges. The only public goal of making a movie like this (besides getting paid) is to make people laugh a little during one of the darkest times of modern history. And it pulls that off with aplomb.

For anyone out there seeking depth where there isn't supposed to be any, I have this to say: Just because the plot changes direction to fit the jokes instead of the other way around, that doesn't make it a bad movie. Watch the flick and laugh along. It's only 63 minutes long. Can you stand 63 minutes of laughter in your life?

In Manhattan, vaudeville comic team Ole Olsen (as Ole Olsen) and Chic Johnson (as Chic Johnson) practice performing with their live seal. Probably their room has a "no pets" policy, because "Sally" the seal annoys landlady Blanche Payson (as Mother Wilson). Also, the rent is due. Olsen and Johnson are mistaken for oil millionaires and decide to help nice Mary Howard (as Joan Eldridge) re-open her musical theater, which was shut down after a mysterious death. That death is never explained or connected with another one, which our heroes attempt to solve. They also become suspects. Olsen and Johnson are much better represented in the 1941 film version of their Broadway hit "Hellzapoppin'!" (1938).

*** All Over Town (9/8/37) James Horne ~ Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson, Mary Howard, Harry Stockwell