Fri 19 Aug 2011
A Movie Review by Walter Albert: COCKEYED CAVALIERS (1934).
Posted by Steve under Films: Comedy/Musicals , Reviews[10] Comments
COCKEYED CAVALIERS. RKO, 1934. Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Thelma Todd, Dorothy Lee, Noah Beery Sr., Robert Greig, Henry Sedley, Billy Gilbert, Franklin Pangborn, Alfred James, Jack Norton, Snub Pollard. Director: Mark Sandrich. Shown at Cinevent 40, Columbus OH, May 2008.
Wheeler and Woolsey were a very popular comedy team in the 1930s, turning out some 19 comedies for RKO from 1929-1937, with the team’s career cut short by a serious illness that forced Woolsey’s retirement.
Jim Goodrich was a great fan of the pair, but I’ve never been able to sit through all of one of their features. However, encouraged by the favorable write-up in the program-notes, I agreed to make another stab at appreciating their work.
I am happy to report that Cockeyed Cavaliers, in which the boys, decked out in period garb but losing none of their contemporary edge, play con men who are taken to be the king’s physicians, dispatched to cure the ills of the Baron (Noah Beery), is a delightful musical, with director Mark Sandrich also responsible for several of the Astaire-Rogers musicals.
His sure touch keeps the film consistently afloat, aided and abetted by a talented cast headed by gorgeous Thelma Todd and lovely and delightful Dorothy Lee, with veteran film villain Noah Beery blustering through his role as Todd’s lecherous husband and displaying an impressive bass in a couple of the songs.
The score may not be memorable, but it’s melodious, and if I hadn’t seen parts of a number of Wheeler and Woolsey comedies that I didn’t care for, I would have been convinced that the team was very much to my liking, with their other films worth tracking down.
August 19th, 2011 at 4:32 pm
Wheeler and Woolsey are my favorite film comedy team. They specialized in the surreal nonsense humor of the era. Much like the Marx Brothers, not only for surreal humor, but for the fact their movies were hit and miss.
My favorites are DIPLOMANIACS and HALF SHOT AT SUNRISE. I was really disappointed by their mystery spoof THE NITWITS.
August 19th, 2011 at 4:55 pm
I like the Wheeler and Woolsey comedies but I can certainly understand someone not liking them. Humor, especially slapstick is a very subjective thing.
August 19th, 2011 at 5:28 pm
Walker
I was thinking the same thing. I’ve not seen any Wheeler & Woolsey movies for over 60 years, so I can’t comment on any of them.
But what has occurred to me after reading Walter’s review and your comment as well as Michael’s, is that comedy films are the ones that are always going to be the ones that get the widest range of reactions.
You can’t get everyone to agree on any one movie, but comedies? People’s opinions are going to vary all over the place.
August 19th, 2011 at 6:39 pm
One of the reasons the Marx Brothers have remained so popular was that each brother featured a different style of comedy. I am a Groucho fan, others love Harpo, and even Chico has his fans. Toss in the romance and music and their films had something for everyone.
Even their film catalog has a wide enough range to appeal to different fans. My favorite is HORSE FEATHERS, others like the studio made A NIGHT AT THE OPERA.
With Wheeler & Woolsey (plus the vital and underrated Dorothy Lee) the humor was just the surreal slapstick style and offered little else for those of different humor tastes.
August 22nd, 2011 at 11:04 pm
Thing is, W & W were not really slapstick comedians. They were Broadway and Vaudeville musical comedy with verbal routines and one liners. Slapstick implies a lot of physical humor, and while they did some of that too, it really wasn’t their bread and butter.
They’re my faves as well. Pretty much all of their stuff from Rio Rita through The Nitwits is fun (possible exception Dixiana, but even that has historical interest).
August 25th, 2011 at 11:09 am
Brian, I agree they were more surreal comics such as being barbers on an Indian reservation who are sent by the Indian nation to a World Peace conference to stop the world from another war (DIPLOMANIACS). But do you remember the end of the movie? Very slapstick (and very unPC).
I love the surreal plots, the word play humor, and total silliness of their movies. But the physical comedy of the musical numbers was amazing. Watching the brilliant Dorothy Lee fall on her butt always makes me laugh.
August 29th, 2011 at 6:54 am
COCKEYED CAVS was first W & W film I ever saw and I sat through many more looking for something even nearly as good. Walter captures the zany fun of this one quite well.
February 27th, 2012 at 3:03 pm
Warner Archive is slowly but surely getting the Wheeler and Woolsey flicks out on DVD. They’re a third of the way through at present.
I think COCKEYED CAVALIERS is their very best film, they worked really well with Sandrich but unfortunately did only one other film (HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY) with him. Those two, DIPLOMANIACS and PEACH O’RENO are my picks as the four W&W “must sees”.
I have yet to see SO THIS IS AFRICA (butchered by the censors), HOLD ‘EM JAIL or GIRL CRAZY, so I may find one more out of those. W&W got lost in the shuffle a bit in the ensuing decades, but like another RKO genius who isn’t getting his due, Leon Errol, they’re well worth checking out.
June 18th, 2012 at 6:28 pm
Michael, not sure how the ending of Diplomaniacs is slapstick. Sure, they donned blackface and did the song, but that isn’t really what I would call slapstick.
Peach-O-Reno is probably my favorite, since it is just flat out the funniest film they ever did. I actually saw Cavs before it, but it was really Peach that made me a big fan.
Hold Em Jail is a really good one too, maybe a slight notch below their absolute best (lack of music perhaps?). So This is Africa is also really amusing, even in its mangled form. Girl Crazy is good for their work in it, but you can tell it was a troubled production.
June 18th, 2012 at 10:38 pm
Brian, they don’t don blackface, but get it from the bomb going off. At least that is how I remember it. And the peace conference ending in violence was a form of physical comedy.
But you are right, they made some great comedies.