Gozando a Guerra

Comedy team Wheeler and Woolsey are soldiers in WW I who go AWOL, impersonate military police, flirt with the locals, and cause havoc where-ever they go. Edna May Oliver is in here as the Colonel's wife, with her usual disapproving glances and sarcasm. The Tiller Girls perform a bit in the cafe. The boys pretend to speak french in a terrible, insulting fashion. and everyone pretends not to notice. This was one of their earlier films, and could use a restoration -- the version I saw had some rough spots in both sound and picture quality. It's a fun, light film. The usual sight and banter gags as all their other films, but it's fun to watch the vaudeville bits taped together into a film. Moves pretty slowly, as they try to stay one step ahead of the real MPs. Directed by Paul Sloane, who also directed them in "Cuckoos". I caught this one on Epix channel. It's entertaining.

A few years before Radio Pictures became RKO and started making big money with Fred and Ginger and King Kong, the studio churned out a series of outrageous Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, none sillier than this one made in 1930. The jokes come fast and furious, most terrible, but every once in awhile a good one lands. The delightful Dorothy Lee (who was to become a staple of many a W & W film in the future) sings and dances with Bert. The big surprise here is the performance of Berlin-born Leni Stengel as the French vamp Olga; she is not only sexy and vivacious but wonderfully funny. Why she never went on to a brilliant career as a comic actress is a mystery. The Paris street scenes designed by Max Ree and shot on the Hollywood backlot are particularly realistic, demonstrating how well-made even lesser Hollywood films were in the years when sound had just come in and everyone was experimenting. Wheeler and Woolsey are an acquired taste. Their bad jokes have a way of getting to you if you don't watch yourself.

Two soldiers go AWOL in Paris during World War 1. An enjoyable comedy made by RKO. Dorothy Lee, a favorite of Wheeler and Woolsey is delightful in this film, especially the musical number "Whistling the Blues Away." Edna Mae Oliver has a small but effective role as the snooty wife of a general. Leni Stengel is also very effective as the beautifully dressed and elusive Olga.

Wheeler and Woolsey are two of my favorite comedians from this era. You just never know what to expect. This takes place in France during World War I, and while there is always an expected amount of sexual innuendo in their movies, (and in a lot of movies made before the codes) this one has the most I've seen yet. Ex. Cute innocent Dorothy Lee says to the boys she's about to turn in as A.W.O.L. for reward "I expect to make $500 from both of you tonight." to which Woolsey exclaims to Wheeler, "You're in Paris now boy"! Don't even get me started on Leni Stengel as the exotic Olga. I found this movie very enjoyable, even when things invariably get silly.

RKO gave the vaudeville comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey a second starring feature with this fairly funny piece set in Paris during the Great War. The boys are AWOL from their lowly ranks in the army and running amok amongst the girls in the wicked city. Meanwhile the colonel (former singer George MacFarlane) is juggling a romance with the sparky Olga (scene-stealing Leni Stengel) and the suspicion of his wife (Edna May Oliver's film debut), while his youngest daughter (the team's resident cutie, Dorothy Lee, fixing on curly-haired Wheeler as usual) is on the prowl for someone to ‘be nice' to her.

The movie has a watchable mix of pure comedy (the roller skating waiter, the scented letter, the café scene), songs (the usual duet for Wheeler and Lee; plus a fun bit for Woolsey and Stengal where he ends up dancing in a fountain in his underwear), and romance – with the obligatory happy endings after all the mayhem. What does jar though is the attempt to signpost the war by sending the boys to the Front – this section just doesn't fit somehow.