You know, I finally watched COCKEYED CAVALIERS, and while it wasn't bad, it wasn't the masterpiece I was expecting. Some funny stuff, like Bert's kleptomaniac bit, and Woolsey had some good lines (the beheading line had me spit coffee on my TV screen), but the thing with these Wheeler and Woolsey films is there is so much song and dance, I prefer it add to the comedy, and it fails to do so here. Think Bert, Bob, Dorothy Lee, and Thelma Todd in HIPS, HIPS, HOORAY!; that's song and dance with humor. COCKEYED is good, but I am not ready to call it their best.
I agree this volume doesn't exactly scream their most heralded films other than COCKEYED CAVALIERS, though four I've yet to watch. Overall, I do like these guys, and am finding their pre code stuff to be best. Count me in as someone dying to see SO THIS IS AFRICA, supposedly one of their more politically incorrect films. Columbia owns that one.
I watched COCKEYED CAVALIERS yesterday for the first time in about 15-20 years. I think I've seen it twice before. I've only seen 3 or 4 of their movies, and this is the only one I've found worth seeing more than once.
I don't think any of their films are considered masterpieces, else said films would be more well-known. Until cable, namely AMC, I don't recall any of their films being shown on broadcast TV in my lifetime.
Any fan of comedy from that era will enjoy this film -- meaning people on this board. Can it holds it's own compared to the Stooges, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Bros., etc.? Nope, but it is an enjoyable 70 minutes nonetheless.
I've always found it
somewhat similar to FRA DIAVOLO, and I just read that RKO made it because of that film's success. What makes it somewhat similiar is that it is set several centuries earlier, and it is a musical/comedy. And it co-stars Thelma Todd. The similarities pretty much end there, though.
I've mentioned recently how much Woolsey reminds me of a cross between George Burns and Groucho Marx. I almost fell off my chair when Woolsey addressed Thelma Todd as Gracie!
Wheeler reminds me a little bit of Larry. Picture him with Larry's "hairdo". And their voices are somewhat similar -- though Wheeler's is higher-pitched.
This film could easily have been made with the Marx Bros., or the Stooges, but not Laurel and Hardy. A few Abbott and Costello movies were supposedly "remakes" of W&W films, but the only obvious one was RIO RITA. The scene at the inn in CAVALIERS, where they scheme to start a brawl to get out of paying the check, is very A&C-like, but the rest of the film, with the mistaken identities and posing as doctors, is more akin to the Stooges and brothers Marx.
Jack Norton has a very small role as -- you guessed it -- a drunk. Snub Pollard appears as well, nearly unrecognizable without his mustache from his silent shorts. They play the doctors who W&W steal clothes from to impersonate them.
Old (not Nat) King Cole (Kewpie Morgan) from BABES IN TOYLAND makes an appearance early in the film, and if you don't recognize him by sight, you will certainly recognize him by voice.
Billy Gilbert and Franklin Pangborn have very small roles. Noah Beery (brother of the more famous Wallace Beery), and Robert Grieg are also on hand, with much bigger roles. Grieg you may recall as the butler in ANIMAL CRACKERS.
To me, the most memorable co-star in this film is Dorothy Lee, who made many pictures with W&W. I think she was gorgeous here -- and looks like the girl-next-door that everyone dreams of, but never has. Just a cursory search on other's opinions of this film reveals that there is no way that anyone could have mistaken her for a "boy" in this film! I came away from this film thinking more about her than Thelma Todd -- that speaks volumes. To me, Dorothy is Maryanne to Thelma's Ginger, at least in this film.
The associate producer was Lou Brock, who later had an illustrious career in MLB for the St. Louis Cardinals, and was famous for his base-stealing. He was also elected to the Hall of Fame.
![[pie]](https://threestooges.net/forums/Smileys/default/throwingapie.gif "Throw Pie")
I think the song and dance is what elevates this picture to something that can be enjoyed on repeated viewings. The "Big Bad Wolf Is Dead" song is a lot of fun.
Overall, I wouldn't call CAVLIERS laugh-out-loud funny, but it is still highly recommended if you looking to see a comedy from that era that you haven't seen before.
