Whoopee!

source: Whoopee!

I was very excited when I found out that Warner home video was putting it out on d.v.d.I had the v.h.s version .But when I finally got the d.v.d version I was shocked.It was enhanced in three colors!The sequence where Eddie is singing making whoopee the beautiful sky was no linger greenish but now had a bluish tint.The scarfs of all the cowboys and cowgirls ,in the beginning of the film,instead of greenish scarfs ,they too had bluish tints.Evin Eddie's shirt was no longer greenish.It was bluish,but it was moderately enhance,not totally. You had some scenes that retina the greenish orange dirt yellowish look.You did see eddies shirt become greenish again in some scenes.But the point is time Warner or the Goldwyn companies should not of enhanced the colors .They were okay.It was one of the few surviving two strip Technicolor production s that had more colors in the art direction,than other early color film productions Time Warner or Samuel where depriving the new classic film fans of seeing the film the way it was,the way audience in 1930 and us audience in 1979,when h.b.o. premiered it and when it came out on cassette,As well as those who saw it on the nostalgia channel.saw it.Although either company had the legal right to change some of the color,morally they did was wrong.They also legally did wrong when they did not advertised the d.v,d as third color enhanced version of the original two color production.The same problem when t.c.m showed the enhanced version of Dr.X and Mystery of the wax museum and the Ben Hur color sequences,1926,As well as the ending color sequence in It's a great life ,1929.The introduction did not tell audiences they were going to see something enhanced.They all violated the truth in advertisement law.Well it's still a good movie.I just order a v.h.s copy left over,since my old tape is getting worn,cause it retains the greens and oranges. I gave this version only a 9 cause it was enhanced .05/9/13, p.s the good side of the d.v.d, it's very sharp and clear

In terms of cast the film Whoopee is a considerably cut down version of the Broadway show. That could be said of the Donaldson-Kahn score as well. But in terms of the film it was a valiant attempt, a trial run at making the musical not just a photographed stage play. For that effort Whoopee got an Academy Award nomination for Best Art Direction. Before Eddie Cantor starred in the musical version of Whoopee on Broadway which ran for 407 performances in the 1928-29 season, it had been a straight comedy play The Nervous Wreck which ran for 279 shows in the 1923-24 season. I have to confess I was a little shocked when I saw that Otto Kruger had played Cantor's role of Henry Williams, the nervous hypochondriac who went west seeking a cure for his multitude of ailments. I sure didn't see that coming. In any event Whoopee has Cantor at a dude ranch with his private nurse Ethel Shutta who was also repeating her role from Broadway. His good friend an Indian played by Paul Williams has an unrequited love for Eleanor Hunt and she him. But the racial differences make this romance impossible at least on the stage and screen of the Twenties. She's engaged to marry the sheriff John Rutherford, but rather than do that she tricks poor Cantor the schnook into running off with her. That leads all on a merry chase throughout the film. Walter Donaldson and Gus Kahn wrote the score for Whoopee on stage and screen and of course Eddie Cantor's big number was his classic Making Whoopee. Even today this salute to the phrase 'cheaper to keep her' carries a lot of laughs. Donaldson and Kahn wrote some new songs including another that Cantor introduced on screen that also became associated with him throughout his career, My Baby Just Cares For Me. Ethel Shutta was quite a performer herself and this is the only time we can see her in her prime as she competes with Cantor for laughs and does some nice dancing in the Stetson number. She was married to orchestra leader George Olsen who led the pit orchestra on Broadway for Whoopee and accompanies on the soundtrack in this film. This film also introduced Busby Berkeley to the silver screen and according to Herbert Goldman's biography of Cantor, it was Cantor who persuaded Sam Goldwyn to hire Berkeley. His numbers are nicely staged though he wasn't anywhere near his peak creative years with Warner Brothers. On Broadway Ruth Etting had a specialty part and introduced what became her theme song in Love Or Leave Me. Sadly Ruth and the song got eliminated from the film and that is a pity. If you remember the part that Patrice Wymore played in the Gus Kahn biographical film I'll See You In My Dreams her role was based on a combination of Etting and Clara Bow. Sadly Whoopee does bow to the racial and racist mores of its time. A solution to the marital problems is found that would not fly today. Despite that Whoopee is worth seeing in order to see one the great performers of the 20th Century in a role that Eddie Cantor made his own.

This film is a hoot. Based on Ziegfeld's 1928 Broadway show, Whoopee, filmed entirely in two-strip Technicolor is hysterically funny in spots, politically incorrect in others. The film is an excellent showcase for the bygone charms of Eddie Cantor, who spouts off one funny line after another. The musical numbers are the very first choreographed by the great Busby Berkeley. And the fantastic costumes worn by the first Goldwyn Girls show the influence of Ziegfeld, who was listed as co-producer along with Samuel Goldwyn. The films of Eddie Cantor are hard to come by on DVD, so I consider myself lucky to have obtained a lovely copy of this rare film.

My attention was drawn to this movie sometime over Christmas and it recently arrived from the US. Wondering if I really wanted to watch a 1930s musical featuring someone I'd never seen before, it wasn't until last night that I popped it in the player. Immediately I was surprised to see that it was in colour, primitive two strip colour but a beautiful, barely real representation giving the lovely ladies an unearthly look. Early sketch and dance routine only okay but before my eyes had a chance to begin to glaze over the film took off and blossomed into a splendid, surreal treat with a fantastic performance from Eddie Cantor (I'm now a fan and have ordered more!). The dance routines are sensational if slightly ragged but I guess the new boy Busby Berkeley was finding his feet. The girls certainly find theirs and by the time the final and most amazing set up with a whole parade of ladies in the most incredible near * costumes and on horseback(!) we are panting for more rather than the end. For a film this early to retain its magic AND effective humour is amazing. I should also mention that I couldn't help but notice numerous similarities between the way Cantor, moved, spoke and gesticulated to the surprisingly similar actions of Woody Allen in his films. All in all a very pleasant surprise and highly recommended.

I had my reservations about this movie before I watched it. But, when the movie ended, I was very surprised by how entertained I was. The storyline to this movie is very simple. Henry Williams (Eddie Cantor) elopes with Sally Morgan (Eleanor Hunt), who is already engaged to Sheriff Bob Wells (Jack Rutherford). After Bob Wells finds out that Sally and Henry eloped, him and his buddies head out to find Henry and Sally, and they plan to hang Henry as punishment for running off with the Sheriff's fiancé, and the comedy goes on from there. Like I said, it is a very entertaining film. Eddie Cantor shows his true comedic talent (as always) in this film. I would highly suggest this film. It is very humorous and entertaining. And it's got some great routines.

Quite a surprise for such a lesser known, starless film. Whoopee! is a delightfully funny and entertaining musical comedy. Credit the comic actor, Eddie Cantor, for pretty much making the film everything it is. This nasally, spectacled, Jewish wisecracker is like a cross between Woody Allen and Groucho Marx. Plus he sings! Cantor is simply fun to watch. His comic timing is excellent and his musical numbers are as catchy as they are risqué for the time. The movie only suffers whenever Cantor is not on screen. Like many comedies of the time, there had to be a love story and a separate romantic lead. This does nothing but detract from the film, especially since the rest of the cast is completely horrible. Some of the dance sequences also drag on too long, but other than that, the film is well worth seeing.

Loved it! What a treat this was. Great color, costumes and sets and of course Eddie Cantor, who now ranks as one of my favorites. Surreal plot if full of schtick and is VERY non-PC (another reason to love it) as Blacks, Indians, Jews, Gays, and Goys get lampooned by Cantor and company. Several terrific songs by Cantor, "Making Whoopee" and "My Baby Just Cares for Me," and a couple of excellent production numbers by Busby Berkley. Ethel Shutta (pronounced shoo-tay) was smashing in her "Stetson" number. I wish it had been longer. Among the show girls and dancers are Betty Grable, Ann Sothern, Virginia Bruce, Claire Dodd, and possibly Jane Wyman, and Dean Jagger (of all people) plays a deputy. The typical 20s romantic subplot between white Eleanor Hunt and Indian Paul Gregory is a drag and is the same things we've seen in the early Marx Brothers and Wheeler and Woolsey comedies. Spencer Charters plays Underwood, Marian Marsh is his daughter, Jack Rutherford is the sheriff, etc. The colors are great, the costumes fun. Flo Ziegfeld was involved show there are plenty of show girls in outrageous costumes. Shutta is a find, but it's Eddie Cantor's show all the way and he's very very funny.

This has always been a favourite of mine, nice and primitive, jolly and inconsequential, a window on a vanished world - and race. It's been screened in the UK without warnings up till now, that world might have gone by now too. Un-masochistic people today who are offended by Jewish Cantor's jokes and temporary black-face are presumably intelligent enough to realise that they're forcing themselves to watch a rather old film and should either make the necessary allowances or switch it off. The whole film is based on the racial premise that oil and water don't mix - the main love interest is between a white woman and a (pardon me - it's the 2-strip Technicolour!) Red Indian (who by the way appeared uncannily similar to Woody out of Hellzapoppin, and both actors died young). A fallacious hypothesis and nonsense too of course, but a concept always upheld in Hollywood's Golden Age - nowadays we're at the other extreme and are constantly instructed that oil and water are identical. Apart from all that it's a breezy authentic view of a 1920's Ziegfeld show, complete with bouncy cherubic cowboys in chaps and huge stetsons, pretty rosy faced chorus girls and some lovely witty songs by Donaldson & Kahn, especially Whoopee and My baby just cares for me. Busby Berkeley came up trumps with some of his best dance routines including a perfectly performed Mexican Wave and some magical from the ceiling shots. Eddie as usual never shuts up, he must have brought the House down with his vivacious performance in this. With all its moral faults Whoopee is still a treasure and deserves preservation with a billion dollar remaster, even if complete with a Government Health Warning before the credits.

This hilarious and racy staged musical is correctly commented upon here as probably as close to a genuine Ziegfeld Broadway show of the 20s as any of us will ever see. In glorious two strip Technicolor too! A fore runner to GIRL CRAZY, HATS OFF, some ELVIS bumpkin re treads like STAY AWAY JOE or TICKLE ME and WHEN THEY BOYS MEET THE GIRLS (in itself a 60s remake of Girl Crazy)...WHOOPEE is by turns hilarious, gorgeous and utterly fascinating for a study of early talkie musicals. It also shows how Woody Allen mannerisms of the 60s with his nervous romantic stchik is not all new given Cantor's romance-tics here. I can watch the musical numbers over and over and find the STETSON HAT number with its excellent clunky tap dancing sound quite compelling. The SUNRISE FINALE is just jaw dropping with the most astonishing costumes draped over almost * skinny showgirls. 200 eagles must have died in the feather department to create some of those outfits. Overall, the dance numbers have indicated just how modern this film truly is, not just for its time but even today, it just looks new: clothes, hairstyles and those fresh lovely faces. The haircuts on the boys are very much apparent today. One young cowboy in the early scenes of the STETSON number looks exactly like 80s actor Treat Williams (Noah Beery Jnr?), and the white jeans with the red berry patterns were revived as modern 90s. It is the pinnacle of the state of the art for the time and thoroughly hilarious in its risqué racist free pre code way.