The Nitwits

When the Black Widow murderer strikes at the boss of a music production business, THE NITWITS who run the cigar stand down in the lobby find themselves under investigation for homicide. Can the Boys find the real villain before he kills again?

A rather routine Wheeler & Woolsey comedy (Bert Wheeler is the one with the curly hair; Robert Woolsey has the cigar & spectacles) but the Boys are always fun to watch. Betty Grable is on hand this time as Wheeler’s love interest. Blustery Hale Hamilton is one of the Black Widow’s victims. Erik Rhodes has a small role as a suspect. Willie Best is on hand to add to the madcap finale. Film mavens will recognize Arthur Treacher as the man with the tennis equipment.

Wheeler & Grable sing “You Opened My Eyes” - Woolsey warbles “The Black Widow’s Gonna Get You If You Don’t Watch Out”. There is some racial stereotyping, not unusual in Hollywood films of this period.

For awhile it looks as though THE NITWITS will be fun along the lines of an Abbot and Costello comedy that mixes mirth with murder in the form of a who-dun-it, but by the time the murderer is revealed as the man behind The Black Widow killings, the story has limped to a madcap slapstick conclusion with an assortment of gags, some good, some tiresome.

Along the way there are a couple of innocuous songs, one of them sung by a very young BETTY GRABLE before stardom at Fox, which she duets with BERT WHEELER. She's the secretary of a murdered executive and for awhile she joins the list of suspects, although we know she's innocent. ERIC RHODES has little to do as a man with a good reason to be one of the suspects, but the plot mainly has to do with Wheeler and ROBERT WOOLSEY (who looks like Phil Silvers on diet pills), and their scatterbrained encounters with the policemen trying to solve the case.

George Stevens directs the whole thing at a fast clip, especially the climactic ten minute scene of frantic over-the-top slapstick that concludes the story.

Summing up: Just okay if you're a fan of Wheeler and Woolsey. It's the kind of slapstick farce the kiddies usually enjoy at a Saturday matinée.

Nitwits, The (1935)

*** (out of 4)

Wheeler and Woolsey comedy has the boys playing cigar salesmen who get caught up in a murder mystery surrounding a killer known as "The Black Widow". This is a pretty good little gem that manages to be quite hilarious but it also has a good mystery surrounding it. There's also no doubt that this film influenced Abbott and Costello's Who Done It? not to mention there are other gags here later used by Abbott and Costello. The film has non-stop gags including a hilarious sequence that involves a chase towards the end of the film. Just about every type of gag gets thrown out there and the majority of them stick. There's also a very funny scene where Woolsey scares the future dead victim by singing a song about a black widow. Betty Grable play's Wheeler's girlfriend and the prime murder suspect and she's very good in her bit role. Black actor Willie Best has some of the funniest scenes, although most of them come in the form of racial jokes.

Johnnie (Bert Wheeler) and Newton (Robert Woolsey) are best friends who own a cigar shop. Newton invents a shocking lie detector. Johnnie has a crush on Mary Roberts (Betty Grable). Mary's sleazy boss Winfield Lake needs a 'murder song'. Wannabe songwriter Johnnie with Newton's help write a song about a murderous Black Widow. Unbeknownst to them, Winfield is actually being threatened by blackmailer Black Widow. His wife forces the cheapskate Winfield to hire private detective William Darrell.

Ok! I laughed hard at nothing rhyming with oranges. That's a great joke. They do keep bringing it back for the diminishing returns. Maybe they should have given it to Wheeler. This comedic pairing is not making me laugh a lot. They are mildly amusing at times. This movie is mildly amusing at times. Take the cop hat for example. It's a slow meandering joke that isn't all that funny until Johnnie comes back with it. It feels like a long walk to get to one good laugh. That's this movie.

The first time I seen this film, I literally laughed myself sick! This film is many, many different types of movies rolled into one. You can call is a mystery for the who done it, science fiction for the speak truth machine, crime drama for the gangster activity, musical for the songs, thriller for the spooky scenes in the dark, love story for the scenes between Bert Wheeler & Betty Grable and of course, a comedy. The only catagory it wouldn't fall in is a western. This film has all the elements of the true classic comedy. It has the classic slap-stick which is extinct now-a-days. The scenes w/ Arthur Treacher as the poor victim always encountering the boys on the steps is this rare extinct form of comedy . I love it when they throw his tennis balls and land right in the cop's mouths. The scenes toward the end are also great. It's especially funny when these poor colored chaps try to have their crap game and end up having the bejesus scared out of them. They end up being chased by everyone else. This film is non-stop fun and unlike modern films, it is completely free of foul language & sex. Only a little bit of mild violence which I wouldn't be afraid to show even to small children. This is a film that will make time fly. It is total fun from start to finish. I would recommend this film to everyone except those of who who have a bad heart; they may laugh themselves dead!