Cracked Nuts

"Cracked Nuts" is a B-movie from Universal which is chock full of famous supporting actors...making it a B with much more talent than usual. Imagine....Stu Erwin, William Frawley, Mischa Auer, Shemp Howard, Una Merkel, Will Wright and Mantan Moreland all crammed into the same film! This alone make the movie worth seeing for old movie buffs.

When the story begins, Larry (Erwin) wins a contest whose first prize is $5000....a huge amount for 1941 equal to the yearly salary of two people! However, Larry is a bit of a dunce and soon some con men descend upon him. In particular, Boris Kabikoff (Auer) with his fake robot (with Howard inside). Can Erwin spot the scam or is he destined to lose his brand new fortune from these slick characters?

The main story idea is pretty dopey. Add to that some VERY negative portrayals of black people (with Moreland shooting dice, being scared of ghosts and other crappy stereotypes of the day) and the film has some serious deficits. Overall, it's a film that could have been terrific and has its moments...but overall really isn't all that good.

"Blonde-itis" Definition: One who has a tendency to chase any blonde woman in a skirt! And hey, let's face it; as the cop said in the movie when Boris tries to explain Ivan's love for blonde females: "He has Blonde-itis." to which the cop replied "Who don't!" Sounds good to me! Any great old flick such as this one that lacks political correctness by today's standards gets ten stars from me! Bought a 16mm print of this flick because I love Shemp! But also because I had never heard of this picture before I saw the listing for sale on-line! Speaking of the lack of political correctness, toss in the mix good old Bill Frawley (the only reason to watch "I Love Lucy") and the fact that I knew Marc Daniels who directed the first season of that show! Then add Mantan Moreland and Hattie Noel - how can you go wrong! Frankentin as Hattie Noel calls him, while she kicks back and let's Ivan vacuum the living room for her, is a riot! The only down side, we needed more Shemp! A 420 Shemp-Fest would be great! Two Stars, Five Stars - I give it Ten Stars! Don't be so uptight! We're all stereotyped at one time or another! Hey everybody thinks I'm a long haired stoner surfer dude! Live a little try and catch this flick! The copy on You-Tube looks like crap! Universal Pictures probably lost the 35mm nitrate negative in the 2008 fire! Thank goodness that 16mm prints have turned up for sale! Oh No, my blondeitis is kicking in, I think a beautiful woman just walked by, gotta run, see yea! Wait for me Mr. President, I'll join you!