“HELLZAPOPPIN” COMEDIANS BACK

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 283, 26 August 1944, Page 5

“HELLZAPOPPIN” COMEDIANS BACK

“Crazy House” Lives Up To Its Title

[By

M.F.E.W.]

Back in the late 'twenties the nowfamous comedy team of Olsen and Johnson toured Australia with u crazy vaudeville act. They were good, but they didn't exactly set Sydney Harbour afire. Later they put a little more speed into tclnr show and crashed Broadway with “Hejlzupoppin.” There was really nothing new about it; in fact, if anyone had had time to stop and analyze the show it might have earned the god old American title of “corn.” But no one was given time to stop and think. “Hcllzapoppiu” rushed ahead at such a furious, zany pace, that the audience was left breathless—and very amused Later the show hit the screen as one of the daftest pieces ol movie photography seen in a long time. Last night Olsen nud Johnson came back to Wellington.ld ‘•Crazy House” (St. James), which introduces most of the “Hellzapoppiu ’ gags and several new oiies . Universal, who made the film, hn\c ttiKen a leaf from Paramounts hook by guying their own studio uiime.clfullj. Olsen und Johnson arrive in Hollywood bent on making another him. But Universal de cide they have had quite enough of this bay wire pair. Stars,, directors and stall disappear into the air raid shelters at first mention of the comedians Police train tommy guns ou them, a director tells them if Universal only had Don uld Duck and Superman left on the pajroll they still wouldn’t hire Olsen and Johnson. With these strong, hints Huging in their cars the pair think it Wv iiu he quite an idea to make their own moutSo they hire a studio, a producer a backer tie looks important but actually he hasn’t a bean in the world) and a modest little cast whieh includes Cass Daley. Patrie Knowles. Tony and Sally de Marco, Count Baale and hi/band. Marlon Hutton and the Glenn Miller Singhrs. Franklin Pangborn and Martha O Driscoll. How they ever produce a film Is a complete mvstery to themselves and the audience. But they do finally have a film and everyone has a lot of fun in the Process of production. The lines come as finicky as today’s Allied victories and sent last night’s big audience home in as cheerful a frame of mind. “A LADY TAKES A CHANCE” Lots of things have happened to ladies in thne movie era, but when the lady is Jean Arthur and the film is A Lady fakes a Chance” (I’laza) I’m happy to settle down to a well-spent evening. The film has that something that just can’t escape from anv film In which this star appears It’s all about a New York bank clerk who finds that her cherished dream of malting an all-expenses-paid bus trip to the "aymCoast and back isn’t what it was cracked up to be. At least, not till she reaches Oregon and a bucking broncho hurls a handsome rodeo rider on top of her and knocks her Hat. The rider, who is something of a gentleman too, offers piactieal apologies bv showing her the sights or Fairfield. She misses the . bus, quarrels with her new-found acquaintance, liitCUhikes across a lot of desert and has quite a number of varied experiences. The rope-shy rodeo rider yearns tor nothing more than the wide-open spaces and a freedom from female entanglements John Wayne, given his first chance nt comedy. makes the most of the part, (mu who could fail with Jean Arthur playing the oposite number?) Love scenes ’fi b hay wagon and a riotous scene in a tie - tier gambling hall give the stars plenty of opportunity to take neat cracks at similar scenes which are usually played w th edadly seriousness on the screen. Cha:lies Winninger, as Waynes ,0 Y a ’ b friend, has a nice role and so have I bil Silvers and Mary Field. “WOMEN AREN’T ANGELS” (Third Week).—lt’s good to know in the midst of a spate of American stage and screen shows, that this corner of the British Empire hasn’t lost its appreciation of the typical British farce—as is shown by the success of VV omen Aren t Angels it is written by Vernon Sylvaine, not Ben Travers, IV omen Aren t Angels’’ follows the traditional lines of the famous Aldwych farces, popularized bv Robertson Hare, Ralph Lynn and l orn Walls Of those original stalwart*- only Robertson Hare remains in the present film, but Ids new partner, Alfred Drayton, admirably supplants the others Somewhere in the background there is a plot, introducing fifth columnists, suspicious wives, pretty girls, and the rest of the trimmings—but it is the trimmings that are important, and not the plot itself. There can have been few funnier scenes in any picure at any time tlmn those in which Hare and Drayton, pursued by their own jealous wives,- the jealous commandotrained husband of a lovely female crooner, and a desperate band of fifth columnists, disguise themselves as officers in the A.T.S. (the English version of the W.A.A.C.). Apart from tins highlight, tile whole film will keep. you roaring with laughter from beginning to end. “THE TUTTLES OF TAHITI” I don’t mind letting you into a little secret about “The Tuttles of Tahiti (Paramount). When it was first screened tor the benefit of the theatre executives who would ordinarily show it in their cinemas they turned it down flat. The opposition bought it. screened it and found they had one of the successes of the season on their hands. Which goes to prove that you can never tell in the old gamble known as the theatre. , , « Charles Laughton has made one or tMO failures but he has seldom played a better role than that of the Tuttle father, idle, living for the day and entirely without troublesonfe temperament. Into his lite and the lives of his large brood comes a colossal amount uf money. They behave exactly as I should like to behave with a large bankroll in my pocket. They buy the most extravagant useless things; they sing and dance and make merry—and all the neighbours with them—till the day conics when they haven’t a farthing left. But they have had a lot of fun on the way which is the proper regard to have for a lightly-spent windfall. Louis Hayward, who spent a considerable time in Wellington last year and who was wounded at ‘Tarawa when the Marines moved out to tackle that costly venture, plays an important part in “Dance, Giri, Dance,” the other picture on the programme. This is no new picture but it has an interesting cast, a cast which has continued to climb the slippery Holly wood ladder since they were together in this little drama. Maureen O’Hara gives a nice performance and so do Lucille Ball. Virginia Field and Ralph Bellamy. .Here is the familiar stage story but this time it is the reverse side with all the hidden aches and pains that must necessarily accompany the players who can never help but wonder what is to become of them on the morrow. “LOSI ANGEL” Second week). Don’t be misled by tho title of “Lost Ansol” (Majestic). The name seems to suggest one of those noun-to-earth dramas set in some nameless slum (life is always apparently more real in slums than anywhere else), with alm lighting, and camera angles as acute ns the discomfort the whole show Induces m the audience. “Lost Angel” is emphatically nothing like that. It tolls the simple story of a foundling child, brought up oil scientific lines by a panel of experts in child psychology and other learned matters. ~ „ , The youngster becomes a prodigy of intelligence. a model of good manners, anil lacks entirely the fears and repressions of normal children. Unfortunately with that lack goes the lack of warmth, caused I by the absence of anv real love in the enuu s life. Introduce a warm-hearted newspaper reporter, horrified at her lack of interest in normal childish things, and the o™* plications of the plot follow naturally, rhe happy ending is not a happy ending lor the child alone—the reporter also gams In character from his association with There are good performances all through—particularly by the board of expert psychologists Who arc delicately satirized. and clearly defined—lint tins wouldn’t be the fine film It is if it wcron t for little Margaret O’Brien. She has none of the artificial ringlets or curls, none ol the distressingly “cute” ways, of the traditional Hollywood child performer—she grips your attention and your heart from the moment she first anpears on the wcveen. It’s an incredible performance for a child —a performance to love and to remember. “Lost Angel” is now in its second week —if Wellington audiences know a film when they see one it should run for many more weeks yet. “SAN DEMETRIO, LONDON” (Second Week).—The revival of “Saa Demetrio, London” (Opera House), Is obviously well worth while. It is D r °Dably dangerous at this stage to say It, but it would appear that here, above all others, we have “the” picture of the war. In the Simplest possible manuer the story of the tanker San Demetrio is told. Too' heavily laden to escape the pocketbattleship which attacked the convoy protected by the famous Jervis Bay, the tanker is shelled and set afire. The crew aluiudon ship, but one lifeboat, after three days, meets the ship again, still unbelievably afloat. The men reboard tier, put out the fires, and finally reach the home port. Ji.'o an Incredible story, ull the more incredible because it happens to be true, and the film has been made with an integrity und nice appreciation of values that alone would make it memorable. “What u Woman” (TudorL— Cnriiody with romance. Rosalind Russell and Brian Aherne bead the cast -’Forever ami a Day’’ (.State, i’etone).*— A moving drama that unites llWt talents of 78 stars. ■

“HIGHER AND HIGHER” Musical shows are not usually excelelnce of plot-on the Mifeen st! ill les*. iSISw- bankrupt, Uau^ter dd \^’eonXrat d lo U y with bis staff, a her own in these mutters, and cessful in wrecking her marriageL vh J at aristocratic gentleman wth a somewhat doubtful background, and the times are saved by other, and even '^There’s o plenty b ’of comedy in the show, with Leon Errol, Michele Morgap-fsurcly one Of the loveliest of all the screen lovelies), and Jack Haley leaditig the turn The ballroom sequences, in which Aiicntiu Morgan, ex-scullery-maid, makes her debut as a society gorl, contain as many laughs to the foot as an y audience could desire, ind the “pace-is good from start to finish In addition, there is It rank binatr.. It is once again necessary to record, who regret, that throughout the showing of the dim not one maiden iu the audience swooned or screamed with excitement ut this somewhat pale, untidy, ap l IC , a) , l , n ?|,„ c 2oJ_ tender for the Crosby crown, but the pic tore makes great plav with such happentiga, which Save attended his American success aud there is comedy in plenty, on the usual American hues, to be made from his extraordinary reputation. The musical numbers, mostly llftofl direct from the Broadway show of the same name, are of good standard Quality —the best possibly being the title piece, “Hi"her and Higher.” For the many who are tired of the incredible spectacular dance sequences which infect screen musials it may be recorded with satisfaction that throughout the film, there are no sensational numbers In which private houses suddenlv become revolving stages, or split in twain to reveal a ballet of hundreds. The musical numbers, in fact, are staged with nice discretion, and a sense of comedy.