Delightfully irreverent and deliciously un-P.C., this war comedy is unashamedly tacky on its depiction of two AWOL soldiers in Paris getting into all sorts of trouble. Wheeler and Woolsey song, dance, clown and scheme their way out of the trenches. Wheeler falls in love with a bumbling major's daughter (the perky Dorothy Lee) while Woolsey goes out of his way to make time with the French vamp (Leni Stengel) out to blackmail the general.
With sniffy Edna May Oliver as the major's imperious wife and Lee's domineering mother, this ends up being a riotous farce with hysterically funny sketches with the two boys and some very funny musical sequences. "Whistle For Me, Dear" is pretty catchy. Originally sung as a duet between Wheeler and Lee, it is hysterically repeated when Woolsey cuts in on the fun. Poor Lee is tossed around like a sack of potatoes, and ends up with a landing on her rump that appears oh so painful but will cause your heart to pound with the laughter that ensues.
Woolsey also scores when he attempts to hide from two m.p.'s by pretending to be a waiter. Dated if you are not familiar with Wheeler and Woolsey's work, it gets funnier on repeat viewings. Oliver is a classic version of the roles Maggie Smith played in her maturity, and even though she's as Yankee as you can get, I can see her as the matriarch Violette that Smith played on "Downton Abbey". George MacFarlane is delightfully droll as the perplexed major. Pretty decent for a vaudeville style musical comedy that is proof that Wheeler and Woolsey deserve more recognition than they've gotten.
With sniffy Edna May Oliver as the major's imperious wife and Lee's domineering mother, this ends up being a riotous farce with hysterically funny sketches with the two boys and some very funny musical sequences. "Whistle For Me, Dear" is pretty catchy. Originally sung as a duet between Wheeler and Lee, it is hysterically repeated when Woolsey cuts in on the fun. Poor Lee is tossed around like a sack of potatoes, and ends up with a landing on her rump that appears oh so painful but will cause your heart to pound with the laughter that ensues.
Woolsey also scores when he attempts to hide from two m.p.'s by pretending to be a waiter. Dated if you are not familiar with Wheeler and Woolsey's work, it gets funnier on repeat viewings. Oliver is a classic version of the roles Maggie Smith played in her maturity, and even though she's as Yankee as you can get, I can see her as the matriarch Violette that Smith played on "Downton Abbey". George MacFarlane is delightfully droll as the perplexed major. Pretty decent for a vaudeville style musical comedy that is proof that Wheeler and Woolsey deserve more recognition than they've gotten.