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.

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.

A couple of scam artists go legit to help a young lady run the dilapidated hotel she's inherited. Over time they turn the place into a swanky high-society hot spot. But when mobsters, a crooked lawyer & a phony countess arrive, the Boys find themselves in trouble HOOK, LINE AND SINKER.

This slight comedy features the always watchable team of Wheeler & Woolsey. (Bert Wheeler is the one with curly hair; Robert Woolsey is the skinny fellow with glasses.) Their one-liners fly faster than the bullets which climax the movie. Dorothy Lee, their frequent co-star & Wheeler's perpetual love interest, is still kewpie-doll cute. The massive Jobyna Howland is great as Woolsey's lady love - a ferocious female not to be fooled with. Hugh Herbert, usually so much fun, is given little to do as the ineffectual hotel detective.

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.

The downside of this movie, one of the early collaborations of Bert Wheeler (the sweet curly-haired guy) and Robert Woolsey (the cigar-chomping wise guy), has one major failing for me: no musical numbers! I think this is the only one of the their nine-year series at RKO not to have even one song, and I missed that.

Anyway, the film is pretty much on-form. The boys play insurance agents who go into the hotel business after meeting heiress Dorothy Lee (I think this is her weakest performance, far too stilted to make any kind of good impression on the viewer). The hotel she has inherited is a wreck but they soon make it good (how we don't see) and attract the attentions of some jewel thieves. Dorothy's mother (the large and booming-voiced Jobyna Howland) and her intended (the urbane Ralf Harolde who played a similar role in the earlier 'Dixiana') also arrive to thwart the plans made so far. In support are Stanley Fields, George Marion (as the oldest bellhop in the world), and Hugh Herbert (the sleepy house detective), and all are watchable.

There are a few highlights amongst the set pieces, the noirish shootout at the end, Natalie Moorhead as the fake Duchess vamping the boys for the safe code, Howland's tales to Woolsey about her numerous previous marriages, and more. Good stuff, but that scene with Bert and Dorothy planning their future by the hotel till really needs a song!