Coucous

RKO in using Wheeler&Woolsey first put them in their big budget films where they were used as comic relief. They were in Rio Rita and then in the original operetta for the screen Dixiana. The Cuckoos is along those same lines, being based on the Kalmar-Ruby musical The Ramblers which ran for 289 performances in the 1926-1927 season on Broadway.

Oddly enough the boys took the place on Broadway of another comedy team that would soon be on the big screen, Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough. Seeing Wheeler&Woolsey in their respective roles I can see how Clark& McCullough could have done this on Broadway.

Like most of the musical comedies of the Twenties the plot was an airy bit of delightful nonsense. Wheeler&Woolsey are a pair of fortune tellers who run afoul of gypsies in Mexico led by Mitchell Lewis who don't like them chiseling in on their racket. At the same time Lewis develops a particular dislike for Wheeler chiseling in on his time with Dorothy Lee.

Lewis and the gypsies are hired by the mysterious Baron played by Ivan Lebedeff who wants heiress June Clyde kidnapped for himself. June likes aviator Hugh Trevor instead, who wouldn't, but her aunt Jobyna Howland and holder of the family purse strings thinks Trevor's the fortune hunter. This mind you with Woolsey panting after her like Groucho does with Margaret Dumont.

It's the team of Wheeler, Woolsey and Trevor that's off to rescue the heiress from the gypsies. The boys have some nice comic bits here, my favorite is them liberating a keg of real beer from customs inspectors as they go back to Mexico. Remember this is Prohibition and many jokes concerning the Volstead Act and its consequences abound in The Cuckoos.

By the way the title specifically refers to not just Wheeler&Woolsey, but to a pair of cuckoo clock birds who are quite inebriated who the film cuts to before one of the three color sequences.

For the most part The Cuckoos is just a photographed Broadway musical just like The Marx Brothers The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers. Still that for me is an added attraction.

Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby got two hit songs from the score of The Ramblers that appeared here and later in the biographical film about the songwriting duo Three Little Words. All Alone Monday and I Love You So Much still retain an enduring popularity to this day.

Watching Wheeler&Woolsey try and imagine Eddie Cantor teamed with Groucho Marx is the best way to describe their comedy. Knowing that fans of Eddie and Groucho can appreciate Wheeler&Woolsey and might be tempted to see them.

If they do, I really suggest The Cuckoos as a good place to start.

A kidnapped heiress & a daring pilot. A wicked baron & an evil gypsy king. A wealthy matron & a cute young Romany. Not to mention a couple of fake psychics who are as crazy as THE CUCKOOS in any clock.

This ancient musical was Wheeler & Woolsey's 2nd film (Bert Wheeler is the little curly-haired guy; Robert Woolsey is the skinny bespectacled one). The Boys are always fun to watch, and they've got some good songs, but when they're off screen the film groans badly. However, it must be said that the massive Jobyna Howland is a great Dumont-esque foil for them & more than holds her own.

The Boys' frequent kewpie-doll co-star, Dorothy Lee, is on hand - and in Wheeler's arms. Ivan Lebedeff is OK as the villain. The romance between June Clyde & Hugh Trevor is dull stuff.

Three early Technicolor scenes are included and they are easy on the eyes. Some of the musical numbers seem to exist solely for the purpose of exhibiting the RKO chorus girls in various stages of undress.

Wondering what a band of Eastern European gypsies are doing in Northern Mexico? In films like this you don't ask questions like that...

W & W are a couple of fortune-tellers with, of course, no talent in this particular area other than an understanding of Pig-Latin. This comes in handy when the purse of wealthy Jobyna Howland (Fannie) is stolen by gypsy leader Mitchell Lewis (Julius). He's a baddie that wants to kill Bert Wheeler (Sparrow) because Bert is in love with the same girl as him - adopted gypsy Dorothy Lee (Anita). He's also involved in a plot to kidnap June Clyde (Ruth) on behalf of Ivan Lebedeff (The Baron). It's a nonsense plot set in Mexico but this is irrelevant. We watch for the comedy routines and musical numbers.

There are 3 musical sections that are filmed in two-strip technicolour with greens and reds prominent. There are quite a few songs and some entertaining dances throughout the film. It seems like everyone has a go. If you enjoy this film, I'd recommend Whoopee! from the same year starring Eddie Cantor. Very similar stuff also in technicolour. A couple of good songs that stand out in this are "All Alone Monday" and "I Love You So Much".

In their follow-up to their hit film debut, Rio Rita (1929), with Bebe Daniels and John Boles, W&W star in another stage musical--this time with less success. The plot is stupid and some of the scenes seem to have no connection to whatever storyline is being played out. But W&W are fun, there are a couple good songs ("I Love You So Much"), and the comedy bits are dated but funny. Following the formula of the day, there are young lovers, Hugh Trevor and June Clyde, and a comedy foil--here the wonderful Jobyna Howland. At 6 feet tall and in heels, Howland towers over W&W and works especially well with Robert Woolsey. Some of the jokes are surprisingly risqué, Howland's character is named Fannie Furst (wrong in the IMDb listing as Hurst). As usual, pretty Dorothy Lee is on hand as Wheeler's girl friend. Two technicolor sequences, one featuring Lee in an elaborate production number in hell. Lee and Howland joined W&W in other films; Tall Hugh Trevor (not bad considering the cluck role he has) died a few years after this film following surgery. If you like W&W, you'll like The Cuckoos.

After their success in supporting comic roles in RIO RITA, Wheeler and Woolsey were given the leads in this stage musical, which comes to the screen pretty much as if it were a filmed stage show (most of these early adaptations look like this - witness RIO RITA, WHOOPEE! etc.).

Not much plot and what there is follows the musical comedy formula. The romantic leads are dull, but we're not watching this for them. W & W are as usual marvelous together, with one gag word play after another. It's a most enjoyable 97 minutes.

One smash hit song from the Bolton/Kalmar/Ruby score (which by the way is universally tuneful and quality)is I LOVE YOU SO MUCH. Ten songs were retained from the stage show for the film.

There are three two-strip Technicolor inserts (reds, greens, browns) : a. the first act finale to the song GOODBYE, occurring from the 53 minute mark to 57:30 (4:30 minutes); b. the second act DANCE THE DEVIL AWAY number, occurring from 1 hour 21 minutes, 20 seconds to 1 hour, 23, minutes, 40 seconds (2:20 minutes); c. the Finale, occurring from 1 hour 34 minutes, 20 seconds to 1 hour, 36 minutes, 55 seconds (2:35).

Technicolor totals: 9:25 minutes.