This was a common theme in Hollywood in the 30s: cram as many vaudeville and radio stars as you can into a movie, give it a tissue-paper thin plot and see what happens. I've seen and enjoyed several of the "Big Broadcast" films of this genre, so I know that it can work, however it doesn't in this case.
The big names for the film were W.C. Fields and Burns & Allen, along with a woman named Peggy Hopkins Joyce (who must have been something of a celebrity at the time, but I've never heard of her). Bela Lugosi (of all people) also stars as the bad-guy.
The premise is that a Chinese inventor had created a television that allows you to view anything in the world, and all the countries come to the remote town of Wu Hu to try and purchase it. Much mileage is gotten out of the fact that Wu Hu is a funny name and sounds like "woo-hoo!" Those jokes have a desperate, pleading quality about them like they were added by the script-writer after the fact, when he'd begun to worry about his job security with the production company.
George Burns is the doctor at the International House hotel where all the action takes place, Gracie Allen is his nurse. Its true that their moments on screen (mostly their Vaudeville and radio shtick about Gracie's family) are funny, but then, they were always funny. W.C. Fields plays a drunken inventor who flies an auto-gyro to Wu Hu by accident while trying to get to Kansas City. Its a particularly petty role for him which mainly involved him crashing into things, and he plays it with contempt. Even a few brief examples of his skill at juggling (which we don't see very often in his movies) can't revive his lifeless role.
There are lots of opportunities for musical interludes and these range from the lame (a song and dance number about a mug who falls in love with a china cup) to the creepy (Rose Marie as a ten year old singing a sexy jazz song while standing on a piano). They even managed to get Cab Calloway to put in an appearance, and his song "Reefer Man" ("He smokes that reefer / and gets high / then goes out and argues with the sky") just makes you sit back and think, "Wow, our culture sure has changed a lot since the thirties."
Among its many fault, the movie also has just about the most idiotic attempts at creating dramatic tension ever: the leading man (a chinless wonder who is attempting to get the invention for the American Electric company) is in danger of losing his beloved because every time they are about to get married, he comes down with a different children's disease (mumps, chicken pox, then measles) and can't go through with the wedding. He spends most of the movie in quarantine with the measles. Everything turns out alright in the end though, because when he finally gets to see the Chinese inventor, his bid is accepted instantly and he can now marry his beloved with no fear of illness.
If you want to see an actually funny movie where Fields stars with other radio comedians, watch "You Can't Cheat An Honest Man."
The big names for the film were W.C. Fields and Burns & Allen, along with a woman named Peggy Hopkins Joyce (who must have been something of a celebrity at the time, but I've never heard of her). Bela Lugosi (of all people) also stars as the bad-guy.
The premise is that a Chinese inventor had created a television that allows you to view anything in the world, and all the countries come to the remote town of Wu Hu to try and purchase it. Much mileage is gotten out of the fact that Wu Hu is a funny name and sounds like "woo-hoo!" Those jokes have a desperate, pleading quality about them like they were added by the script-writer after the fact, when he'd begun to worry about his job security with the production company.
George Burns is the doctor at the International House hotel where all the action takes place, Gracie Allen is his nurse. Its true that their moments on screen (mostly their Vaudeville and radio shtick about Gracie's family) are funny, but then, they were always funny. W.C. Fields plays a drunken inventor who flies an auto-gyro to Wu Hu by accident while trying to get to Kansas City. Its a particularly petty role for him which mainly involved him crashing into things, and he plays it with contempt. Even a few brief examples of his skill at juggling (which we don't see very often in his movies) can't revive his lifeless role.
There are lots of opportunities for musical interludes and these range from the lame (a song and dance number about a mug who falls in love with a china cup) to the creepy (Rose Marie as a ten year old singing a sexy jazz song while standing on a piano). They even managed to get Cab Calloway to put in an appearance, and his song "Reefer Man" ("He smokes that reefer / and gets high / then goes out and argues with the sky") just makes you sit back and think, "Wow, our culture sure has changed a lot since the thirties."
Among its many fault, the movie also has just about the most idiotic attempts at creating dramatic tension ever: the leading man (a chinless wonder who is attempting to get the invention for the American Electric company) is in danger of losing his beloved because every time they are about to get married, he comes down with a different children's disease (mumps, chicken pox, then measles) and can't go through with the wedding. He spends most of the movie in quarantine with the measles. Everything turns out alright in the end though, because when he finally gets to see the Chinese inventor, his bid is accepted instantly and he can now marry his beloved with no fear of illness.
If you want to see an actually funny movie where Fields stars with other radio comedians, watch "You Can't Cheat An Honest Man."