Whispering Whoopee

How can a movie with Charley Chase, Thelma Todd, Anita Garvin, and Dell Henderson, plus a sletzer bottle climax, be such a dud? Even a top notch cast needs some good gags, and there almost none here. The plot is fine, and one wonders if it had been intended as a dialog comedy instead of a slapstick. The post office and Niagara Falls gags just don't work, and there are too many cutaways of Chase's camera looks. Eddie Dunn probably has the best scenes as the butler who takes too many drinks of the bootleg cocktails he isn't supposed to be making. However, any scene with Todd, Garvin, and Dolores Brinkman in wet, tight dresses deserves applause.

Very weak Chase short. Typical early sound Depression short, all about party girls, booze, and playing Post Office. In other words... not much plot!

Charley Chase wants to sell his piece of property to the city of Rockaway, so he hires goodtime girls Thelma Todd, Anita Garvin, and Kay Deslys to, ahem, help entertain them. However, Rockaway instead sends some stony-faced puritanical types.... at least until Miss Todd suggests Post Office.

It's certainly not the best of Chase's short subjects for Hal Roach, but any time Charley and Thelma Todd are sharing the screen, their chemistry makes a very funny comedy.

Whispering Whoopee (1930)

** (out of 4)

Decent, if not particularly funny, short has Chanley Chase hiring three "party girls" to entertain some young men he's trying to sell some property to. The girls are all ready until there's a knock at the door and Chase realizes that the men are actually elderly and wanting nothing but business. The plot to this short is actually very slim as there's not too much that goes on. We do get a few funny gags but overall I'd put this down as a lesser Chase film. As you'd expect he's certainly up to par as he certainly brings that charm and charisma that only he could. I found him to be very fast on his feet here and he certainly helped keep the film moving even when there weren't any laughs. Thelma Todd plays one of the girls and she's as charming as ever. Eddie Dunn gets a few good scenes as the butler and Tenen Holtz sticks out as one of the businessmen. What really hurts the film is the screenplay because it really doesn't have anything going for it. The joke is pretty one-note as the elderly men show up and Chase must pretend the girls have class. The best joke in the film is when Chase tells one of them to complement Todd who is suppose to be a art fan. What happens with the compliment was very funny as is another sequence where they get into a fight over a game of post office.

The first thing I noticed about this Charley Chase short is that the sound was pretty poor. While the actors could be understood, their voices were very thin and showed that the film could have used further restoration. Plus, because there was no closed captioning, watching it was a tiny bit of a chore.

Charley is trying to sell some land, so he wants to make a great impression when these prospective buyers arrive by paying some 'good time girls' to spice up the meeting. However, at the last minute, there is a substitution and some prune-faced old men arrive instead. However, the old geezers aren't as stuffy they appeared and soon the party gets off to a wild start...and finish.

There really isn't any plot other than this--it's just a group of guys and gals whooping it up and getting drunk. Some of it's funny, but for the most part this film is essentially plot-less--making it one of Chase's weaker vehicles.