Alban Back in the 80's I was flipping through channels and I found this movie. I didn't know what it was but I knew it was funny. I caught it in the middle and they never said the name of the movie. I've been looking for it since and nobody knew what I was talking about. So if there's someone else out there in my shoes, I'm going to make a review that will be searchable. Because right now there's NOTHING on the internet like what I'm about to write.(minor spoilers) Twin cities of Amos and Bamos. We'll call Amos "B" and Bamos "A". That's so you don't get confused.Then they ended up drinking 100 year old hooch. Zup said you need to respect old age.At another point, Wendell said something wrong and Zup said, "Don't you know the King's English?" And Wendell said, "No. Is he English?" And of course Zup wants to be executed by something modern like an airplane. They accommodate him and he sits in a royal airplane bombing target chair.Weird stuff, but good.Now that I've provided something for a search engine to find, hopefully anyone else out there frantically looking for this movie will be able to find it. I just watched the whole thing on TCM, uninterrupted. Nice.Overall I found it to be really good. Like a cross between a Marx Bros and an Abbot and Costello movie. I was never in on the whole "Wheeler and Woolsey" thing but now I might just give them a chance.A lot of their banter when looking at the miniature battlefield was textbook Abbot and Costello. But the overall absurd situation was pure Marx.Also of note, the mean aunt is introduced very early in the movie. About 10 words in and you'd swear she was Endora from Bewitched. She sounds like Endora but she looks like Carol Burnette. She is neither of these.Boris Karloff has a bit part in this movie as an opportunistic scam artist. The one guy calls him Boris. It looked like it might have been a mistake but they missed it in editing so they just went with it. He was already an established actor by then and he made a kagillion movies in 1931. I'm guessing it was easier just to leave it in than to try to get ahold of Karloff and get him to re-shoot that one scene. It didn't take anything away from the story, so if it was me I'd have just left it in as well.Korny gags, silly puns, unbelievable situations. If you like this sort of light-hearted romp, then you might just enjoy Cracked Nuts. Plus it's just a little over an hour long. They crammed a lot of funny into a short space.Oh, I also FFed over most of the song and dance scene at the bottom of the staircase. I've never been one for that sort of thing. But at one point it looked like the guy stumbled back, lunged forward again, and began singing way too close to the girl's ear. If you look at the mechanics of that one move it looks pretty goofy. And she began laughing at him, leading me to think it wasn't planned.

Michael_Elliott Cracked Nuts (1931) * (out of 4) This was my second Wheeler and Woosley flick and it'll probably be my last for a while. This film has pretty much been forgotten except it does feature Boris Karloff is one of his non-monster 1931 roles. In the film, Woosley wins the throne of a small country in a dice game but gives it to Wheeler who wants it to impress the aunt of his girlfriend. I somewhat enjoyed the duo's Mummy's Boys but this film here was just dreadful. There were a few funny lines but the rest of the film was rather hard to get through. Karloff is wasted as is Dorothy Lee. One interesting aspect is Lee who does some voice effects, which would later be used by Curly of The Three Stooges.

bkoganbing Getting there first, exploring grounds that the Marx Brothers covered so thoroughly in Duck Soup are the RKO team of Wheeler&Woolsey who get themselves mixed up in the politics of some backwater country in South America in Cracked Nuts. Bob Woolsey wins the throne of El Dorania in a crap game and spends the rest of the film trying to avoid assassination plots cooked up by disgruntled general Stanley Fields.Woolsey's partner Bert Wheeler has his own problems in the romance area. He's in love with Dorothy Lee, but he's got to deal with her formidable aunt, Edna May Oliver. Wheeler is the schnook of the team, playing parts that Eddie Cantor and later Danny Kaye would do with far more acclaim.Cracked Nuts might not be all its cracked up to be. I'd certainly rate Duck Soup over it. Yet it does have its moments, particularly the last attempt at Woolsey's life by Ben Turpin, dropping bombs during a ceremony.It's a film that can stand on its own merits. But I wish Edna May Oliver had more screen time. She's a favorite of mine and I've never been disappointed with her in any performance. She's reason enough to see Cracked Nuts.

ksf-2 Cracked Nuts is a Wheeler and Woolsey vaudeville-type comedy made during the downward spiral of the depression. The patter, jokes, and non-stop puns come out quickly, with pauses for audience laughter (in the first half of the film). The jokes start right from the beginning, even during the opening credits. Look for Boris Karloff, who had already made 60 movies by 1931. Director Ed Cline had been directing comedies since 1916, so he certainly knew his business. He had also directed most of the W C Fields movies, which explains the great comedic timing. Character actress Edna May Oliver is Aunt Minnie, who always played the disapproving, prim & proper matriarch in Tale of Two Cities, Little Women, and tons of other movies. Beautiful Dorothy Lee, with her big expressive eyes, plays Betty Harrington, and had already made several movies with Wheeler & Woolsey, so she knew their timing. German actress Leni Stengel plays Carlotta. Fun, if a little dated, (note the blocks of ice being delivered at the start of the movie) it has the feel of an Abbott & Costello film. Although the plot and jokes are the stars here, unlike in an A & C movie, where it was more about the stars. It was made prior to the Hays Code, and except for a gay reference at about 23 minutes in, it is not at all sexual or naughty, although there are opportunities, since the king wears a kilt... This 1931 version does not seem to be related to the 1941 film of same name, which was also directed by Ed Cline. For an even funnier Wheeler and Woolsey film, watch Peach O Reno...