Topic: Half Shot at Sunrise (1930) - Wheeler and Woolsey

[HomokHarcos]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020945/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_4_nm_0_q_half%2520shot%2520at%2520sunr

Another public domain Wheeler and Woolsey film, which means another film you can watch freely!

After Dixiana's box office failure (it grossed less than the budget) a high budget follow-up in the same vein starring Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, and Bebe Daniels was canned. Normally that would lead to a "what if" scenario, but I think for us comedy fans this was a plus, because now the production is scaled down and we get a comedy starring Bert and Bob. No romantic couples regularly taking up screentime with their corny romance and musical numbers. I agree that this is the first true Wheeler and Woolsey picture.

The movie is a World War I comedy set in Paris during the end of the war. Great War comedies were sort of in vogue around this time, including Doughboys starring Buster Keaton and Pack Up Your Troubles starring Laurel and Hardy. Bert and Bob get some good scenes pretending to be higher ranking men, and sort of a twist where Bert notices men behind Bob and Bob is oblivious. Woolsey actually manages to get himself out of the situation by keeping up the facade!

There's not really much of a plot aside from a love letter written to the married Colonel Marshall. He wants a secret letter involving war plans to be sent out to General Hale, but sends that by accident, oops, and it so happens to wind up in the hands of Wheeler and Woolsey who want to improve their reputation. Dorothy Lee performs great and her character is entertaining, but there is something very yucky about the romance, she is 16. Why did they have to make her so young? The actual Dorothy Lee was an adult , why they had to make her character a minor I have no idea. It takes you out of the romance, and furthermore, her age is not made to be a problem by the film's characters. A big detraction for the movie.

One plus for this movie is that there are no vaudeville-like routines, and more of general slapstick, character-related, or plot-related stuff. Those work fine in short films or live appearances, but in feature films they don't come across very well (I have a similar issue with the early Abbott and Costello features for this reason). I'm also a big fan of the set design, I asked myself "is it possible they shot this on location in Europe?" even though I knew it was lower budget, and it was indeed a stage built by RKO that would be used for years, including in one of the Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers films.

One also moment of note, is the ending where they go on the battlefield to deliver the message. Bob volunteers Bert for the mention, and then feels bad. We get a genuinely touching moment where he feels guilt over that, but Bert says not to worry about it, and sadly tells him to let Annette (Dorothy Lee's character) to know if he doesn't make it bad. You could argue it detracts from the comedic nature of the film, but it does show the duo had genuine acting talent.

Overall, it's clearly the best film yet from these guys. I'm hoping for better, especially the negative of the romantic age gap.

[Umbrella Sam]

Well, compared to the trainwreck that was DIXIANA, this is definitely a major improvement. The plot is better, the casting is better, Wheeler and Woolsey are funnier. That being said, I still don’t think it’s perfect. Actually, when the movie started, I was afraid it was going to have the same pacing problems as DIXIANA because they spent what felt like forever focusing on Wheeler and Woolsey constantly changing their outfits so they could flirt with French women. Thankfully, once they finally get past that, the movie does get better.

I agree with HomokHarcos regarding their decision to make Dorothy Lee’s character 16. Completely unnecessary and it really casts a shadow over that storyline. It’s a shame, because I think this is one of Lee’s better performances. That number that she and Wheeler perform, “Whistling the Blues Away” is great and I like the brief choreography she, Wheeler and Woolsey do before the MPs show up to arrest them. One thing that I think really distinguishes Wheeler and Woolsey from their contemporaries is their focus on song and dance routines. I know not everyone likes them and, sure, I definitely took issue with some of the numbers in THE CUCKOOS and especially DIXIANA, but when they get it right, it really is very entertaining. They’re not using doubles either, it’s clearly them doing the actual dancing.  Compare this to the Abbott and Costello features where they just throw in random song and dance numbers to fill up space; it’s distracting there because we just want to see Abbott and Costello. But with Wheeler and Woolsey, it’s actually a part of their act, so even if they throw in a song-and-dance number without them, like the one with the waiters at the French restaurant, it’s not distracting at all and actually feels like it fits in with what’s been going on.

Speaking of the French restaurant, that’s probably my favorite part. An opportunity for Wheeler and Woolsey to mess with their superior, Bert does some fun visual humor when sliding across the floors, and an opportunity for them to interact with Edna May Oliver. I’ve been re-reading the Watz book entries and was surprised to learn that this was apparently Oliver’s first Hollywood film; don’t know how I missed that the first time.

I also agree regarding the slightly more dramatic battlefield scene with Wheeler and Woolsey. Sure, it does kind of feel like it came out of nowhere, but it is a nice way for them to explore the relationship between the duo and again show off their versatility.

So yeah, definitely a step in the right direction for Wheeler and Woolsey, but there definitely is still some room for improvement. If I recall correctly, the next film is even more of an improvement.