Hellzapoppin' is, as one reviewer has already correctly stated, a 1940's time capsule. It's very dated and even tame by today's standards but it's entertainment value remains second to none.
Olsen & Johnson's zany Broadway stage show gets a Hollywood reworking, (i.e completely different from the stage show). They play two bumbling stage hands hired to do the props for Robert Paige's outdoor theatre show. but decide to sabotage the proceedings when they wrongly assume that the girl Paige has fallen in love with (Jane Frazee) is not of righteous virtue (bit of a maneater). Their reasoning being if the show's a flop, then he won't be able to marry the gal, thus saving him from scandal and misery.
The Jokes come thick and fast with virtually every other line to the point where you fail to think of another comedy film where the gags are so 'rapid fire'. Even if you sneeze you'll probably miss ten gags such is the movie's joke density.
Great support comes from Martha Raye who's given a few great songs to belt out such as "What Kind of Love is This" and "Watch The Birdy" and she works well with the wonderful Mischa Auer as the object of her unreturned affections.
Clarence Kolb does what he does best, playing the short tempered old fuddy duddy. Hugh Herbert too gives us a few great scenes, though his character is the only one in the movie that has no real purpose so much so that movie would not have suffered had he not been there.
Robert Paige and Jane Frazee play the love interests and share a few well performed songs, Universal, (not generally remembered for their musicals), probably thought that they had found their John Payne and Alice Faye.
Hellzapoppin' is probably also one of the first films to 'break the 4th wall' with dialogue constantly being directed to the movie audience. Even to the projectionist who is fleshed out in the form of 'The forgotten Stooge' Shemp Howard.
The show itself is 15 odd minutes of pure gut-wrenchingly funny stuff. The ruination of Auer's & Raye's Ballet, The Robert E Lee number and the 'sneezing guy'. (I never thought sneezing could be that funny until I saw this movie).
Throw in Richard Lane as the frustrated Film Director and Elisha Cook Jnr as the meek scriptwriter then you have a great family laugh-fest of a movie.
This type of zany musical Comedy had been around for many years on the stage and in Vaudeville and on the club circuit but had hardly been seen on the movie screen until Olsen & Johnson opened everybody's eyes. It certainly paved the way for other zany comics of the same type of humour to get into movies like Danny Kaye and Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. Having said all that Hellzapoppin' is not only a hysterical movie in it's own right but in a way a milestone too.
I loved Hellzapoppin' and I'm not ashamed to admit it either.
Olsen & Johnson's zany Broadway stage show gets a Hollywood reworking, (i.e completely different from the stage show). They play two bumbling stage hands hired to do the props for Robert Paige's outdoor theatre show. but decide to sabotage the proceedings when they wrongly assume that the girl Paige has fallen in love with (Jane Frazee) is not of righteous virtue (bit of a maneater). Their reasoning being if the show's a flop, then he won't be able to marry the gal, thus saving him from scandal and misery.
The Jokes come thick and fast with virtually every other line to the point where you fail to think of another comedy film where the gags are so 'rapid fire'. Even if you sneeze you'll probably miss ten gags such is the movie's joke density.
Great support comes from Martha Raye who's given a few great songs to belt out such as "What Kind of Love is This" and "Watch The Birdy" and she works well with the wonderful Mischa Auer as the object of her unreturned affections.
Clarence Kolb does what he does best, playing the short tempered old fuddy duddy. Hugh Herbert too gives us a few great scenes, though his character is the only one in the movie that has no real purpose so much so that movie would not have suffered had he not been there.
Robert Paige and Jane Frazee play the love interests and share a few well performed songs, Universal, (not generally remembered for their musicals), probably thought that they had found their John Payne and Alice Faye.
Hellzapoppin' is probably also one of the first films to 'break the 4th wall' with dialogue constantly being directed to the movie audience. Even to the projectionist who is fleshed out in the form of 'The forgotten Stooge' Shemp Howard.
The show itself is 15 odd minutes of pure gut-wrenchingly funny stuff. The ruination of Auer's & Raye's Ballet, The Robert E Lee number and the 'sneezing guy'. (I never thought sneezing could be that funny until I saw this movie).
Throw in Richard Lane as the frustrated Film Director and Elisha Cook Jnr as the meek scriptwriter then you have a great family laugh-fest of a movie.
This type of zany musical Comedy had been around for many years on the stage and in Vaudeville and on the club circuit but had hardly been seen on the movie screen until Olsen & Johnson opened everybody's eyes. It certainly paved the way for other zany comics of the same type of humour to get into movies like Danny Kaye and Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis. Having said all that Hellzapoppin' is not only a hysterical movie in it's own right but in a way a milestone too.
I loved Hellzapoppin' and I'm not ashamed to admit it either.