Crazy House

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.

The frantic and anarchic style of Olsen And Johnson was never put to better use than in Crazy House. The boys have Universal Pictures in a state of siege at the thought of their returning to the lot after the success of Hellzapoppin'. Great success, but no one wants to work with them again. A whole lot of familiar faces show up to tell them just that.

When they do get to see producer Thomas Gomez he dismisses them, but aspiring director Patric Knowles sticks up for them. So Ole, Chic, and Pat decide to make their own film and when name stars refuse them, they hire unknowns like carhop Martha O'Driscoll as a singer.

The big problem is when they mistake Percy Kilbride for a wealthy backer. Percy is a refugee from a rubber room who only thinks he has great wealth. So when the creditors don't get paid, they hatch a plot to steal Olsen and Johnson's labor of love and laughs.

Just about everyone who was working on the Universal lot with the exception of Abbott&Costello and Deanna Durbin got into Crazy House even for only a walk on. And I did love the fact that a whole slew of second banana comics got a bit in this film and that would include Billy Gilbert, Shemp Howard, and Edgar Kennedy as a sorely tried judge. And Cass Daley gets a dual role as Cass Daley and her lookalike cousin Sadie whom the boys sign for the film.

Add Allan Jones singing The Donkey Serenade and you have a great comic film. Jones does this as part of a stall during the premiere of their masterpiece. Why they are stalling is for you to see. And still more musical guest stars that I can't name all of them. In fact this is the only all star extravaganza that was filmed from 1941-45 without a single reference to the war.

Ole and Chic were not really at their best on screen. Like Al Jolson you had to see them live to get the full effect of their zany comedy. Rowan&Martin were the closest to them with their anarchic Laugh-In show. Still Crazy House and Hellzapoppin' are the best examples of their work.

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.

I just saw this film in NYC at the Film Forum, where it was introduced by a nephew of Billy Gilbert, who has a small part in the film.

It was one wild ride.

The audience enjoyed the film thoroughly for what it is, a B movie musical starring Olsen & Johnson that is insane. The comedy duo has to break into Universal in order to make a film there, since no one wants them - in fact, a secretary, on learning who they are, jumps into her desk - we got to see that bit twice because the film broke.

If you want to call the plot a plot, O & J run into difficulties getting financing for their film and, faced with huge debts, decide to auction it to the highest bidder. The film they make is awfully short.

Some of O & J's bits are quite funny and others are of the groan variety. There are many familiar faces in the film - Patric Knowles, Percy Kilbride, Hans Conried, Thomas Gomez, Franklin Pangborn, Shemp Howard, and some funny cameos by Universal stars in the beginning of the movie when they realize Olsen & Johnson are in the building - Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes, Nigel Bruce, Alan Curtis, Leo Carrillo.

Allan Jones sings "The Donkey Serenade," the De Marcos dance, and the end of the film within a film is a huge musical number done by The Glenn Miller Singers, Count Basie's Orchestra, the Delta Rhythm Boys, Leighton Noble's orchestra, and Chandra Kaly's Dancers.

"Crazy House" has a great deal of energy and is a real oddity. It was fun to watch, but I don't think I'd want to watch it again.