Customer Reviews

Hellzapoppin

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I watch this film, and I can see where Ernie Kovacs came from. I also note that a lot of the gags and set up in the film spilled over into the Warner Brother's cartoons of the era, and much later, with references to the way the film is being used. Not the camera, the film itself (to be understood if you see the DVD).
This was based on a Broadway play, it was a shapeless play, was different every night and before it became a movie had the distinction of running longer than any other broadway play.
Describing it only tends to spoil the viewing you will have later. I knew about the movie as a rumor and as a "you have got to see this film!!" kind of introduction. Some of the best dancing you will ever see on film.
Many laughs, much fun. Martha Raye is pretty good, though the "weirdness" of being a man chaser seems a little dated, and I met a few like that and didn't react the way it's placed in the film...(oh, never mind).

Hellzapoppin' (H. C. Potter, 1941)

There was a time, believe it or not, when Hollywood was actually open to the idea of... skewering Hollywood. (Not only that, but nominating a film skewering Hollywood for an Oscar, even if it was only for Best Original Song.) One of Hollywood's great parodists was Nat Perrin, better remembered these days for being the producer of TV's megahit The Addams Family. Perrin, however, poked more fun at his Hollywood contemporaries than one can shake a sizable stick at during his writing days. And when it came to turning the sacred cows into shish kebabs, Perrin never did it better than in his stage-play-turned-Hollywood-blockbuster Hellzapoppin'. Despite being well-received in its day, the movie has faded well into obscurity over the past half-century; it seems the only American DVD release of the film is long out of print. This despite it being on Jonathan Rosenbaum's list of the thousand best movies ever made, a list I'm starting to think of as the canonical one. He's usually on the money; I've seen a lot of fantastic films I'd never have seen had I not come across that list, and this is the latest of the bunch.

The film stars Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson, a vaudeville comedy team who never quite made it in pictures, but were still popular long after vaudeville was. Here, Ole and Chic are contracted to make a movie. The director, however, isn't happy with what he's got, so he brings in a new writer. And what a story this guy dreams up. There's a love triangle, a Russian count (or so he claims) pursuing Johnson's sister, a big wedding that hinges on the success of a new Broadway play, and... well, I've just scraped the tip of the iceberg here. A full plot summary of this would be as long as the movie itself, there's so much going on here. All of it, of course, as a framework for the silliest gags imaginable.

But that's what makes Hellzapoppin' work so well--the stupid thing is out-and-out hysterical for much of its length. Imagine Renoir's The Rules of the Game as written by Howie Mandel viewed after the ingestion of copious hallucinogenic substances, and you've got the merest beginnings of the idea. Now, that said, the comedy isn't the only thing it's got going for it; despite the many threads running through here, the plot holds together pretty well, and there are some laudable performances to be had here, especially Mischa Auer as the crazy Count. Potter (Mister Blandings Builds His Dream House) wasn't exactly a slouch in the director's chair, either, which always helps.

A long-neglected American classic that needs to be brought back. You can check it out through Amazon's Video on Demand service, and given the cost of a seven-day rental, what have you really got to lose? Absolutely worth every penny, and a whole lot more. Can't recommend this one highly enough. Fabulous. **** ½

HELLZAPOPPIN' started as a stage play (if you can call it that) put on by a comedy team, Ole Olson and Chic Johnson. It was a bizarre, completely disconnected series of skits and gags - think of the Zucker/Abrams/Zucker movie AIRPLANE! and you'll get a fraction of an idea of how crazy the play was - brought to the screen by Hollywood, who screwed it up as much as they usually do by insisting on shoehorning a love story and extra musical numbers into it. At the beginning of the movie, Olsen and Johnson actually get into an argument with the director about this, saying that the stage play was a success without all that Hollywood junk in it. They even sit down with the director and watch the film in an MST 3K style for a few minutes before the movie proper begins. Although it's true that the gags are dated, this is still an entertaining, insane movie that, if you look at it with the right eyes, is WAY ahead of its time. If you're interested, I suggest you Google the stage play so you can get an idea of just how crazy the original show was. A fascinating, funny movie that deserves to be rediscovered.

Great movie. Made in 1941?!??! How is that possible?
Can stand up to any movie made today and probably
tomorrow as well.

The American Film Institute showed this film at the Los Angeles County Museum 15 years ago. I have never been in an audience that laughed so much as at this film. I have always liked Jane Frazee's singing voice and always wondered why she usually played B pictures. There are several very nice songs and production numbers and one in a swimming pool reminded me of Busby Berekeley. I bought copy of this film from England where it was available and enjoy it for all its wackiness. Maybe I have a weird sense of humor but the funniest line in the movie is when Olsen & Johnson walk past an igloo and a Rosebud sled is hanging there and Ole says "I thought they burned that thing." Hollywoods Attic has an excellent quality DVD available at a reasonable price.

I watched this movie as a kid in the 50's from an actual movie reel. After searching for years as an adult i finally found it on DVD and play often. I love the movies from the 40's and even more I love movies that make me laugh. The schtick is old but you can actually see where the Zucker Brothers got their ideas for Airplane. Martha Raye and her fabulous legs, Mischa Auer and his long legs, together they're wonderful. Entertaining, funny and now I know every line in the movie. I'll watch it forever.

I was very interested in this 1942 film because my father named his P-47 fighter plane Hellzapoppin. I do an historic first-person narrative performance of his WW2 days. He was a highly decorated fighter pilot. Only recently did I discover that the name for his plane came from the movie. He had played trombone professionally before the war, and loved it. I found the movie reflected much about him. The movie had 30's swing tunes, fun-time dancing, and many very funny one-liners. Just like Dad. I can just imagine every time he climbed into his plane was the reminder of who he was. Great film. It's a family thing.

I saw it 40 or so years ago and it made an impression. Watched it again and it was still way ahead of it's time...Crazy and funny... I loved it....

Like most people, I guess, I saw this on TV years ago and then sporadically after that. Its appearance, at last, on DVD is marvelous because it must be in my top five favorite comedy movies. There is a storyline: the hero puts on a musical, hoping it will be a success so that he can marry his true love. But in Hellzapoppin any story would do because it is just there as a foil for Olsen and Johnson to move from one visual gag to another in double quick time and it is probably unique in cramming so much in.

There is something extra though. This is most likely the only comedy to extensively explore the potential of film itself. Tex Avery did it in his cartoons and Woody Allen used the idea for the 'Purple Rose of Cairo' but Hellzapoppin writers Perrin and Wilson really took advantage of the idea. So, a few of these include freeze frame, split frame: with O&J split in half and trying to push the top half of the frame up to correct the fault, a cinema projectionist talks to O&J, they annoy him so he puts on a western, part of which has an Indian shooting O&J, messages are flashed on screen (as in Saturday morning kids shows) telling Stinky Miller to go home, this happens in a romantic musical number with the two singers stopping and they tell Stinky to go home, a black silhouette appears and he leaves.

The use of the film aspect of Hellzapoppin was the cherry on the cupcake for me but even without it I think it would still be an incredibly funny movie. A period gem!

Just ordered it. Can't wait to view it. This movie brings back very fond memories of my brother and I. We watched it as children and I am so happy I finally found it. He and I will share fun times when we see it.