I diplomaniaci

A pacifistic Indian tribe sends two zany barbers to be its envoys at the Peace Conference in Geneva. The DIPLOMANIACS soon find themselves up against the machinations of spies working for a powerful munitions company who have a vested interest in seeing that war continues the demand for their explosive bullets.

Wheeler & Woolsey take a plot ridiculous even by their standards and manage to get some solid laughs out of it. The Boys (Bert Wheeler is the little fellow with the curly hair; Robert Woolsey is the skinny guy with the cigar & glasses) are always tremendous fun to watch, but the viewer who tries to find anything meaningful or coherent in this film would be wasting their time. However, in its own goofy way, DIPLOMANIACS holds its own against DUCK SOUP & MILLION DOLLAR LEGS, two contemporary films with which it shares an hysterical point of view.

The Boys are given a fine supporting cast, each of whom get to shine for a few moments, as they are given no chance for any real character development: Louis Calhern as the suave master spy; Edgar Kennedy as the harried head of the Peace Conference; elderly Richard Carle as an inebriated ship's captain; spunky little Marjorie White as Wheeler's violent love interest, choking him into submission (a very funny comedienne nearly forgotten today, a tragic car wreck would claim her life two years after the release of this film); and Hugh Herbert as an inscrutable proverb-spouting Oriental. Movie mavens will spot Charlie Hall as an eager beaver valet.

Wheeler & White fight their way through `Sing To Me' - while the Boys vocalize with `On The Boulevard' and `No More War.'

Wheeler & Woolsey have been about as ill-used & forgotten as Shakespeare's Rosencrantz & Guildenstern from the play Hamlet. In the abyss of the Great Depression our country turned to its clowns for solace and distraction from calamity. They did not disappoint us, keeping us howling with mirth lest we howl with despair. In return a grateful nation has given most of them an icon sheen, reviving their films, putting their visage on posters & t-shirts, and encouraging savants, pedants, and just plain journalists, to turn their histories into myths, and their myths into history. All of them, it seems, but Wheeler & Woolsey. These two fine cuckoos have been relegated to the basement of the Museum of Comedy. Their movie Diplomaniacs shows them to be sassy, musical and self-aware comics of the first water. So why is their memory as dead as the Firestone tire? Because the American public and its media minions insist on a simplistic & single view of our great clowns. No ambiguity need apply, seems to be the sign posted on the windows of our souls. Con man & boozer? Why that's W.C. Fields, only. Wisecracker? Groucho! Silly silent girl chaser? Harpo! Wistful vagabond? Only Chaplin. We have forgotten, or never knew, that there is a common gene pool for all great clowns and their comedy. Stan Laurel chased girls in early L & H ventures. Harold Lloyd portrayed a homeless stumblebum before inventing his glass character. And so it goes. Wheeler & Woolsey practised well and wisely the common foibles of the great-hearted boobies -- they drank to excess, warbled irreverent ditties, ogled the girls, and cracked wise at the drop of a pun. But they never got a RESERVED spot in the Hollywood parking lot. Groucho, Buster, each of you can make a little room for 'em, can't you? Your brother fools? Maybe Hollywood can even make amends by filming THE WHEELER & WOOLSEY STORY, with Jim Carrey & Steve Martin. I'd pony up the bucks for that!

DIPLOMANIACS is a really really funny 1933 film drawing happy comparison to Marx Bros and Euro-operetta farces of the Depression era. Deliberately as silly as possible with every race stereotype copping a hilarious racist pre code raspberry... even the squadron of French maids who un dress W&W out of their nighties and into hideous check streetwear and stovepipe hats. Everyone cops it and every character is playing unrestrained lunacy to the hilt. Instead of me carrying on about it, make sure you read the 'moviediva' link in the external comments panel along with the very informative other comments here. There is a wealth of information and insight into this forgotten but genuinely hilarious comedy team who seemed to toss very camp humor, cross dressing, insults, demented songs and skirt chasing into every conceivable mix in all their films. I have managed to see about 7 of their films and this so far is the best, fastest and outrageous. They often screen on late night TV in Australia where one channel seems to have almost every RKO pic from 1929-1946. DIPLOMANIACS has a terrific cast and a strong music score. I also love the Monogram pic of 1934 KING KELLY OF THE USA which joins this and DUCK SOUP with MILLION DOLLAR LEGS which you can read all about in other comments and the moviediva link. Enjoy!

This riotous, politically incorrect classic has a lot in common with the Marx Brother's film "Duck Soup". Consider: (1) Both films were released in 1933. (2) Both films had a strong anti-war message to them. (3) Both films starred Louis Calhern and Edgar Kennedy. (4) Both films had hilarious musical numbers in them. A film that is unjustly forgotten today, it has a lot of bizarre, but wonderful moments in it. The film opens with Wheeler & Woolsey as barbers on an Indian reservation. The Indians recruit the boys to attend the Geneva Peace Conference and convince all of the other countries to pledge to end war. However, the owners of an ammunition company sets out to stop them. A delight!

"Diplomaniacs" is not one of their best movies, but it still has one of the best comedy teams of early Hollywood. As always, the plot is not the main focus of the film; just wait for the boys to throw off one-liners and to work out some wacky situations.

Now, this was 1933 and some of their gags and jokes are old and have been done over and over, but it's special for their fans when it comes from these two. And some of the material would have to be reworked for modern audiences. Some would find some of the situations dated or offensive, this being 2018. But fans of Wheeler and Woolsey will not be disappointed - they're still funny.

6/10 - Website no longer prints my star ratings.