Hold 'Em Jail

1932
Passed
1h 6m

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey in Hold 'Em Jail (1932)

Two yokels are framed and sent to prison, but wind up playing football on the warden's championship team.Two yokels are framed and sent to prison, but wind up playing football on the warden's championship team.Two yokels are framed and sent to prison, but wind up playing football on the warden's championship team.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

6.1/10

288

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
This film did poorly at the box office, resulting in a loss to "RKO" of $55,000 according to studio records.

Goofs
Near the beginning Warden Jones gets a letter from the warden of Lynwood Prison that their scheduled football game is to be played on the 29th. Later in the picture, after the quarterback has been pardoned, Barbara exclaims the game is on the 14th.

Quotes
Violet Jones: That's funny - I can't seem to hit that top note.
Spider Robbins: Perhaps it's just as well. Where did you learn to sing, anyway?
Violet Jones: I spent four years in Paris. Of course, I'm not a virtuoso.
Spider Robbins: Not after four years in Paris, no.
Violet Jones: I trust we're both talking about the same thing?

Crazy credits
Opening credits are shown on a prison wall.

Connections
References Moan & Groan, Inc. (1929)

Soundtracks
Jingle Bells
(1857) (uncredited)
Written by James Pierpont
Sung a cappella a bit by Robert Woolsey

User reviews8

Review

Featured review

5/10

Wheeler and Woolsey are definitely an acquired taste

In this Wheeler & Woolsey comedy from RKO and director Norman Taurog, the duo play novelty salesmen who get sent to prison just in time to participate in the big inter-prison football match. But before game day arrives, they cause all sorts of mayhem, especially for the harried warden (Edgar Kennedy). Also featuring Edna May Oliver, Betty Grable, Robert Armstrong, Paul Hurst, Roscoe Ates, Warren Hymer, G. Pat Collins, Jed Prouty, Spencer Charters, Jim Thorpe, and Ward Bond.

There are a few cute moments in this, but not enough. I enjoyed Hymer's role as a dim-witted convict always trying and failing to escape. Oliver is always good, but seeing Grable as a pseudo love interest for Wheeler was a tad uncomfortable, seeing as he was 37 and she was 15 at the time. The title was apparently a play on "Hold 'Em, Yale", a well-known college football chant. I guess I at least learned something new.