Half Shot at Sunrise

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 play two service men during the First World War and go AWOL in Paris changing identities as they go to avoid being captured. How good they are at not being caught is best summed up early in the film when the steal their image off a photograph. Its lunacy from an earlier era and at times its quite funny. The duo made numerous film through the mid 1930's stopping only when Woolsey died of kidney failure.

This is a film thats not quite on par with the duos later films. Thats not to say its not funny, it is; its just that films were still feeling their way around sound and so the cameras often had limited motion and set ups which make them feel stiff. If you can get past that feeling and want to see an under appreciated comedy duo then rent this or any of the other Wheeler and Woolsey films.

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.

Always say "Dorothy Lee" in the same breath as "Wheeler and Woolsey". Here our favorite pert, loose-limbed ingénue has a grand time singing and dancing and trading quips with the two comedians who are on the loose in Paris in 1918. The script by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, Ralph ("Five Dollars-A-Word") Spence, James Ashmore Creelman (who will always be remembered for King Kong) and the famous Broadway librettist Anne Caldwell represents a deliciously zany parade of visual and verbal nonsense which the performers endeavor to keep moving at an admirably fast pace despite the well-meaning efforts of stodgy director Paul Sloane to slow it down. A special pat on the back (if "back" is the right word) for Leni Stengel who makes quite an impression in a whole crowd of lovely Parisians. Production values are remarkably extensive. RKO were obviously expecting to clean up on this one.

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.