Director: EDWARD CLINE. Screenplay: Tim Whelan, Ralph Spence. Story: Tim Whelan. Additional dialogue: Bobby Clark, Robert Woolsey, Myles Connolly. Photography: Nick Musuraca. Film editor: Archie Marshek. Art director and costumes for Misses Lee, Howland and Moorhead: Max Rée. Music director: Max Steiner. Assistant director: Fred Fleck. Sound recording: Hugh McDowell. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: Myles Connolly. Producer: William LeBaron. Copyright 15 December 1930 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Mayfair: 24 December 1930. U.S. release: 26 December 1930. 75 minutes. SYNOPSIS: With an eye to the carriage trade, two sharpies re-open a rundown resort hotel in Florida. COMMENT: Although hampered both by director Eddie Cline's rather static early talkies' technique and a rather unevenly paced script with gags flying thick and fast being suddenly replaced by ho-hum turns of the straight and narrow plot, this is still a highly watchable Wheeler and Woolsey. The biggest disappointment is the complete absence of musical numbers (aside from the welcome intrusion of an orchestral dance band). On the other hand, the comic capers are splendidly re-inforced by Hugh Herbert and George F. Marion (of all people!), with a nice assist from both Jobyna Howland and Natalie Moorhead when they finally get into stride. A minor problem is the complete absence of background music which often gives the effect that the comedians are playing in an echo chamber. Production values are top-drawer. Rée's vast hotel set is a wonder to behold. AVAILABLE on DVD through Alpha. Quality rating: Nine out of ten.

You better be careful if you're ever around anybody like Robert Woolsey. Everything you say can be the set-up for a wisecrack. "I'm not as big a fool as I used to be", George F. Marion says. "Why? Have you been dieting?", Woolsey replies. I could spend my entire review quoting this script of burlesque jokes older than Methuselah, but you're simply better off just watching the film and discovering each delightfully sardonic retort he gives, whether it be partner Bert Wheeler, matronly Jobyna Howland or elderly bellman Marion.The basic story is a rip-off of the Marxx Brothers' "The Cocoanuts", a 1929 musical farce about a jewelry heist at a posh hotel. Here, Wheeler and Woolsey volunteer to assist pretty Dorothy Lee in running the run-down hotel she has inherited, and in the process, become involved with a gang of thieves who have been utilizing the hotel's basement as a warehouse for their stash. While it is easy to criticize the film on its unrealistic treatment of human relationships (the initial Wheeler/Lee exchange is quite awkward), once you get past those quibbles and bits, you can find a lot to amuse yourself with here. The exchange between Woolsey and Howland is pure Groucho Marxx/Margaret Dumont, and it is hysterical to see the Amazonian Howland dancing with Woolsey standing on her feet to guide him around the room. Natalie Moorehead plays basically the same character that Kay Francis played in "The Cocoanuts" with a rather uncanny resemblance to "Bullwinkle's" Natasha (with a platinum dye job). The shoot-out at the finale is also very funny. While this may be one of Wheeler and Woolsey's weaker films (it definitely creaks as loudly as the hotel stairs), it has many amusing moments. This is one time where you just throw the plot out and go for the gags.

Wheeler and Woolsey have been mostly forgotten today even if they were the first comedians successful in full-length sound movies. While Laurel and Hardy were making their wonderful shorts, Wheeler and Woolsey were both making a lot of longer films--and they churned them out in huge numbers in 1930 and 1931--they made four and then five respectively. This was because the team was very popular and RKO wanted to capitalize on them. Unfortunately, because of that, their films are often very uneven. While a few are classics that hold up today, such as CAUGHT PLASTERED and PEACH-A-RENO, many others are tired duds that lack laughs--a serious problem when it's supposed to be a comedy!! When it comes to duds, films like HIGH FLIERS and THE RAINMAKERS come to mind, though HOOK, LINE AND SINKER isn't a whole lot better. It just ain't funny, though the story is pretty agreeable AND the boys don't waste time singing--a problem in some of their early films.The film opens with the boys selling insurance. Along the way, they meet up with their perennial leading lady, Dorothy Lee, and she's in trouble. The boys being gallant, they offer to help. It seems that she's just inherited an old hotel, but the place is a run-down mess. With Bert Wheeler's and Bob Woolsey's help, the place becomes a haven for the rich who want to be seen. As for the boys, a familiar pattern emerges--Bert woos sweet Dorothy and Bob looks for the richest old lady he can find and does the same! If you are a huge Wheeler and Woolsey fan, then by all means see this film. If not, I suggest you see one of the better films I mentioned above instead. Oh, and if you do want to see this or HALF SHOT AT SUNRISE, they are both in the public domain and can be downloaded for free at archive.org--and there's a link to this on IMDb.

Wilbur Boswell and Addington Ganzy abandon their insurance business (read scam) and enter the hotel business with Mary Marsh, who has runaway from home to escape her mother and the family's lawyer Blackwell, whom Mary is being forced to marry by her mother. Unknown to Mary, her mother, and Boswell & Ganzy, is that Blackwell is running a criminal organization and its main hideout is the basement of the hotel. Also coming to the hotel are every sort of criminal set out to crack the hotel safe, so its up to our two heroes, along with a bizarre house detective and the always sleeping bellboy to save the day. A very enjoyable and funny film from Wheeler and Woolsey with Dorothy Lee around again as Mary. As with the majority of the W&W films there are a bizarre bunch of characters and plenty of zaniness to please the audience. Great ending with the shootout. Rating, 8.