Crazy House

When the news spreads around Universal Studios that Olsen and Johnson are back, panic breaks out and everybody runs away as fast as they can - because they can still remember the making of "Hellzapoppin'" (and who of us doesn't remember "Hellzapoppin'"? If there was such a thing as an award for 'the looniest picture', it would CERTAINLY go to this one!)... So, when they're thrown right over the studio walls out on the street, Ole and Chic just try to look for an 'angel' to finance the movie they're planning to make, and a director and cast of course! And as the title clearly suggests to us, "Crazy House" will be very little less loony than "Hellzapoppin'"...

Only this time, there's more emphasis put on the many music numbers, some of which are really wonderful (especially the exotic 'Tropicana') - and besides the musical entertainment and the - as always - hilarious humor of the crazy duo, we can spot a lot of Universal regulars in cameo appearances, from Franklin Pangborn (distressed-looking as ever) to Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson!

Of course, the movie's filled to the brim with surprises and jokes - nothing highbrow or ambitious, just REAL good, plain entertainment to make us laugh and forget all our problems for just a while... And that wasn't only VITAL back in 1943 during the War, but it's still a GREAT thing today - and always will be!

I recently saw this film with Quentin Tarantino's introduction to this film on video tape from Trio. Quentin goes on about how Mel Brooks lifted a good chunk of the premise of this movie for Silent Movie. While the basic idea is the same, down on their luck film makers try to sign big stars for their up coming film, the results are decidedly different. Brooks played it pretty much as a straight film, while Olsen and Johnson used it as an excuse to do silly things with famous people. I prefer the pure insanity of Olsen and Johnson's take.

This is one of the best films that Olsen and Johnson ever made, even if it has one really big problem (which I'll get to in a minute). This is pure Olsen and Johnson insanity. Its a film where anything can happen, usually the silliest of all possible options. Its wild and wacky with Olsen and Johnson acting as steam rollers over Hollywood and the studio system. When the comedy is happening its a rapid fire collection of jokes and gags that never seem to stop.

Or rather stop a bit too often. The one really big problem I was talking about is that the comedy and the madness stops every couple of minutes for a musical interlude. These interludes pretty much stop the movie dead since any of the momentum thats been built up comes crashing to a halt. Most of the numbers are played straight so its a radical shift in tone that really annoyed the heck out of me. (Actually the numbers aren't bad they just belong in a different film) I know that the numbers are the result of this being one of those "studio" films where everyone in the studio appears partly as part of the story, but also as an advertisement for themselves and what ever movie they are currently promoting. (Hollywood turned these out every now and again often to mixed results)

Music aside I really like this movie. If you want to see Olsen and Johnson in great form this is a good choice to make.

Olsen & Johnson go to Universal Studios to film their successor to Hellzapoppin', while everyone at the studio runs for cover. Since no one at the studio will back them, O&J decide to return to Miracle Pictures to get their film started. Since O&J can get no bankable stars, they decide to do the novel approach of having a film w/ new faces including singer Marjorie Nelson (who happens to catch the eye of director Ed MacLean). When films creditors find out that O&J's backer is an eccentric sort who thinks he's a millionaire broker, they put an injunction on the film, and its up to Olsen & Johnson to prove their case in court to save the film. Probably this film was on the same page w/ the WC Fields film, Never Give a Sucker an Even Break with the plot of the comedian(s) trying to film the movie. Olsen & Johnson are up to their same antics again, but after the opening scene of the Universal lot running for cover, the film can't maintain the pace of that scene or what made Hellzapoppin a laugh riot. The musical numbers are nice, but there just seems to be so many in the film, that this is a jukebox film more than a comedy. Still the film has many funny moments and is a sure treat. Rating, 7.

Once the movie....in the movie--the "Crazy House" outdoor set starts; watch for the two boys licking the barber pole. The skinny, seven year old boy in the sideways striped shirt is me!!! One of those watching is Shemp Howard (in a cutaway shot). The other boy and I were having a hard time licking that barber pole; it was just dry painted wood, and even in a B&W "el-cheepo", many takes were made. Then (before the director was satisified and called, "O.K., print it); the A.D. called, "Lunch, one hour," and we walked off and around some corners to the back lot for lunch on outdoor tables. A strange event took place while we were gone and I am writing about it in a book called, "Peeping Into Hollywood." The non-fiction book takes place around 1962, when I myself was directing a film called, "BACHELOR TOM PEEPING." (Look it up on IMDB). In that book I tell many stories about my eighteen years as a child extra and sometimes bit player. Watch for the book, due out some day? The barber pole and it's aftermath is a funny, strange event.

When I was only six, my mother and father sent my older brother to

take me to watch the Olson and Johnson routine at a New York

City nightclub called THE CARNIVAL. I had been aware of the

antics of the Three Stooges, Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and

Costello, but now I could see first hand the live slapstick of

involved comedy.

The film "Crazy House" is a perfect example of keeping the wild art

of updated slapstick alive on film. It is an update of the pie

throwing of early silents and the progression from Charlie Chaplin

to Charlie Chase. This film even has small roles for all the lesser

known comics of that era. Their roles in this movie are much the

same as the bit inserts into "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World".

For those a little bit younger than myself, this film would be called

the progenitor of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh In", a TV series that ran

from 1968-1973.

All I can say is, "If you want to see the visualization of one liners as

presented in the 1940's try and get to see this film". In the short

while, watch "Laugh In" reruns and prep yourself for a look back

into comedy history.