Cracked Nuts

Cracked Nuts is a Wheeler and Woolsey vaudeville-type comedy made during the downward spiral of the depression. The patter, jokes, and non-stop puns come out quickly, with pauses for audience laughter (in the first half of the film). The jokes start right from the beginning, even during the opening credits. Look for Boris Karloff, who had already made 60 movies by 1931. Director Ed Cline had been directing comedies since 1916, so he certainly knew his business. He had also directed most of the W C Fields movies, which explains the great comedic timing. Character actress Edna May Oliver is Aunt Minnie, who always played the disapproving, prim & proper matriarch in Tale of Two Cities, Little Women, and tons of other movies. Beautiful Dorothy Lee, with her big expressive eyes, plays Betty Harrington, and had already made several movies with Wheeler & Woolsey, so she knew their timing. German actress Leni Stengel plays Carlotta. Fun, if a little dated, (note the blocks of ice being delivered at the start of the movie) it has the feel of an Abbott & Costello film. Although the plot and jokes are the stars here, unlike in an A & C movie, where it was more about the stars. It was made prior to the Hays Code, and except for a gay reference at about 23 minutes in, it is not at all sexual or naughty, although there are opportunities, since the king wears a kilt... This 1931 version does not seem to be related to the 1941 film of same name, which was also directed by Ed Cline. For an even funnier Wheeler and Woolsey film, watch Peach O Reno...

Wheeler and Woolsey are an acquired taste, for sure, but I've liked all their films so far. Their jokey, hokey vaudeville style somehow makes me laugh even (or maybe especially?) when the jokes are lame. The groaning is part of the enjoyment. As always, the happenings are extremely silly- this time with Wheeler and Woolsey competing to be king of a small nation that is not so desirable to lead, and the hilarity takes no prompting to ensue. Many old jokes that have been re-used mercilessly and no doubt pre-date Edwardian times; many dumb jokes that no one dared to use again; and sometimes even a good one, (my fave, "He's the most absent-minded man in the kingdom. Last week he put a cigarette to bed and threw himself out the window.") Dorothy Lee, who was especially good in Half Shot at Sunrise, is also good in this one, to a lesser extent. She and Wheeler form the ultimate sticky-and-sweet-as-molasses couple. Edna May Oliver is the perfect comic foil to, well, just about everyone. It is especially enjoyable when things turn violent vaudeville style.

And if you find yourself thinking that this reminds you of Duck Soup, remember this film came two years before that one. Recommended if you have worked up a taste for Wheeler and Woolsey or think you might be able to do so.

Cracked Nuts (1931)

* (out of 4)

This was my second Wheeler and Woosley flick and it'll probably be my last for a while. This film has pretty much been forgotten except it does feature Boris Karloff is one of his non-monster 1931 roles. In the film, Woosley wins the throne of a small country in a dice game but gives it to Wheeler who wants it to impress the aunt of his girlfriend. I somewhat enjoyed the duo's Mummy's Boys but this film here was just dreadful. There were a few funny lines but the rest of the film was rather hard to get through. Karloff is wasted as is Dorothy Lee. One interesting aspect is Lee who does some voice effects, which would later be used by Curly of The Three Stooges.

Getting there first, exploring grounds that the Marx Brothers covered so thoroughly in Duck Soup are the RKO team of Wheeler&Woolsey who get themselves mixed up in the politics of some backwater country in South America in Cracked Nuts. Bob Woolsey wins the throne of El Dorania in a crap game and spends the rest of the film trying to avoid assassination plots cooked up by disgruntled general Stanley Fields.

Woolsey's partner Bert Wheeler has his own problems in the romance area. He's in love with Dorothy Lee, but he's got to deal with her formidable aunt, Edna May Oliver. Wheeler is the schnook of the team, playing parts that Eddie Cantor and later Danny Kaye would do with far more acclaim.

Cracked Nuts might not be all its cracked up to be. I'd certainly rate Duck Soup over it. Yet it does have its moments, particularly the last attempt at Woolsey's life by Ben Turpin, dropping bombs during a ceremony.

It's a film that can stand on its own merits. But I wish Edna May Oliver had more screen time. She's a favorite of mine and I've never been disappointed with her in any performance. She's reason enough to see Cracked Nuts.

Wheeler and Woolsey were a first-rate comic team, now forgotten by most, who churned out a great number of money-making comedies for RKO in a brief period from 1930-1937. Until Fred and Ginger came along, they were the top earners for the studio. Sadly, they were often saddled (as they are here) with second-rate material. In this one, they don't get together until almost half an hour into the story, and even when they do, the jokes are pretty bad. They are surrounded with a top cast of players who would go on to better things-Boris Karloff and Edna Mae Oliver, as well as excellent comic support from Stanley Fields as the heavy and Leni Stengel as the vamp. Bert Wheeler's partner here, as she was to be in many of their films to come is the adorable ingenue Dorothy Lee, who doesn't get much to do. The only song she and Wheeler do is badly staged. There are some excellent Ruritanian sets by the studio's art director Max Rée, and a few spirited marches by Max Steiner in his pre-Warner Bros. days. Most of the fault beyond the script belongs to one of the Keystone Cops, Eddie Klein, who directed with a heavy hand. W&W would get better direction and better scripts in the years to come.