Peach O'Reno

I won't summarize the film. Others have already done that. I will say that it almost appears as if there were two different films spliced together. The second part, the trial, seems different from the first part, offices of Swift and Wattle. But, regardless, this is the best of the Wheeler and Woolsey films. I watch it whenever I simply want to laugh.

Into the third year of the Wheeler-Woolsey partnership with RKO, this little gem, running at just over an hour, gives us Wattles and Swift, the divorce lawyers (with a bus laid on to ferry likely divorces from the railway) who just happen to run a casino by night (!).

To get himself out of a scrape with a vengeful gun totin' husband, Bert Wheeler dolls up as the silliest drag act you'll ever see (Mae West had nothing on this blonde broad!); little Dorothy Lee gets to join him in another great song n' tap routine; and Robert Woolsey chomps cigars and makes his usual line of lecherous wisecracks. Watch out for a wonderful number mid-way where the boys dance together with Bert still dragged up; and a useful way to store those casino chips! Really funny...

Wheeler and Woolsey were popular comics from the late Twenties to Woolsey's early death in the late Thirties. They dealt heavily in wordplay and bad puns, and were generally charlatans; Woolsey's remarks have a strong Groucho tinge to them. They're certainly corrupt in this 1931 confection, directed, inevitably, by William A. Seiter, where they're divorce lawyers by day and casino operators at night. (There's a fun sequence of their office converting into a gambling parlor, echoed in 1964's "Robin and the Seven Hoods.") When long-married Joseph Cawthorn and Cora Witherspoon arrive in Reno seeking a divorce, they take both cases, and for reasons not worth going into, Wheeler is forced to go into drag. The surprise is, he's actually a rather attractive woman! He gets the look, the voice, and walk right and even does an acrobatic pas de deux with Woolsey. The couple's daughters, Zelma O'Neal and the always adorable Dorothy Lee, arrive in Reno to try to prevent the divorce, and a few more plot shenanigans happen before Wheeler and Lee, who were usually partnered and always worked well together, stop the proceedings for a terrific song-and-dance number about how the path from Niagara to Reno is growing shorter. It's a discombobulated movie, the beginning not having much to do with the end, and yes, there are groaners among the jokes. But at just over an hour, it doesn't wear out its welcome, and you'll positively marvel at Wheeler's drag act.

Joe and Aggie Bruno get into a terrible fight at their 25th wedding anniversary. They both decide they want a divorce and separately go to Reno. There they both end up at the law office of Wattles (Bert Wheeler) and Swift (Robert Woolsey), where the boys dispense marital justice in bulk.

In most Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, the boys are broke and trying to set up a con to better their situation. Here they are already thriving, so much, in fact, that the law firm across the street is trying to put them out of business - Jackson, Jackson, Jackson, and Jackson. Let's just call them the Jackson Four.

Complications include the Jackson Four up to no good, the ex-husband of a former client who wants to shoot Wattles and Swift for handling his wife's divorce, and the two grown daughters of the Brunos coming to Reno to try and stop their parents from divorcing. Like so many Wheeler and Woolsey comedies, this builds from controlled chaos in the beginning to full blown mayhem in the courtroom scene finale.

Wheeler and Woolsey have always been a hot or cold taste for most film buffs. They were basically a less acerbic version of the Marx Brothers sort of humor, made more palatable for the small town senses. They are basically at their best when telling a few racy jokes and doing a song and dance, but they are not trying to be comedy greats, just pleasant entertainers. If you don't buy into their relaxed sort of charm, they aren't going to win you over. But their pre-code films, including this one, do work quite well, and of their post-code films, the only truly awful one is MUMMYS BOYS, and that's because it has no musical numbers.

I'd consider this one to be one of their best.

Perhaps DIPLOMANIACS is their unsung classic, while COCKEYED CAVALIERS might be considered their most lushly produced. There is much to be found in HALF SHOT AT SUNRISE; KENTUCKY KERNELS; THE NITWITS; and HIPS! HIPS! HOORAY!, but for my money, PEACH O'RENO is my favorite Wheeler & Woolsey picture. I never knew about these two, but after my Dad mentioned that they had been his boyhood favorites, I took a close look at their stuff. The first thing that hooked me was the music, for in most of their work, there is at least one terrific song, usually performed by the unsung, underrated genius Bert Wheeler, and his very pretty, very unpretentious partner, Dorothy Lee. Wheeler was not just a good comic and good dancer, he was a clever, gifted dancer, and an inspired, original comedian. A notable 1920s "star of tomorrow," Bert Wheeler's singing was just a fabulous extra. When we are lucky, the songs in his pictures are extended by way of a comic verse for Bob Woolsey, a rather wacky character man who will confuse many until they realize that despite the glasses and the ever present cigar, he is not George Burns. The two were teamed by the legendary Flo Ziegfeld for RIO RITA, and they came along as part of the package when RKO filmed it, with Dorothy Lee selected by Wheeler himself (she appeared as part of the team 13 times). PEACH is that type of film you always hope you'll find along the way – a picture you can recommend to anyone and you can depend on a positive reaction. PEACH can be compared, foot for foot, to any of the best Marx Brothers, I think it is that funny, that unexpected, and that entertaining. Just simply accept Wheeler & Woolsey as Divorce Attorneys, and you too can buy into this inspired satire on the divorce game in Reno, circa early Depression. Divorce? Well, you bet this is pre-code, and when these lawyers need to hire a correspondent, they just dress up Bert Wheeler, who will amaze you with this brilliant turn. Not content to merely parade or mimic, Bert's naughty, slightly debauched femme fatal should place him among America's comedic giants. There have been good drag acts on film, but very few have offered the detailed, inspired, finely-tuned portrayal served up here! In addition, Wheeler taps, the music is fun, the supporting cast is uniformly game and marvelous, the W & W schtick (trick settings, trick costumes, trick photography) is often a delight, the script is crackling, and although her best lines were cut by the censors way back when, we get a rare appearance by Broadway great Zelma O'Neal (GOOD NEWS; FOLLOW THRU!) as Woolsey's opposite.