Cockeyed Cavaliers (1934) User Reviews

Dukes, barons and boars, and the wild kind too!

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 28 October 2016]

Possibly the very best of Wheeler and Woolsey's dozen or so films, it is without a doubt their most imaginative. They are traveling con- men, with Woolsey trying desperately to prevent kleptomaniac Wheeler from stealing everything in sight. After facing a crowd of vegetable pelters while in the stockades, they manage to escape and pose as the king's physicians while Woolsey flirts with the baron's wife (a luscious Thelma Todd) while Wheeler becomes involved with Peter Pan look-alike Dorothy Lee. But with baron Noah Beery's protective huge dog playing watch on Todd, Woolsey is certain to be caught. Enter the wild boar...

This musical farce is filled with plenty of sexual innuendo and some really unique ways of presenting the songs and dances. Franklin Pangborn gets things started as the town crier in a set-up that shows lascivious duke Robert Greig ogling town beauties in rhythm as niece Todd responds in kind. The four leads cavort together with the infectious "Dilly Dally", and the recent "Big Bad Wolf" song from Disney is parodied brilliantly. Add on a chase sequence involving the most vicious of wild boars, and you've got one of the best written and clever comedies that even manages a joke at the expense of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar".

Harmless & Light Hearted Fun

[sddavis63 · 6/10 · 10 May 2014]

Similar to Laurel and Hardy, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey were a (lesser known) comedy team of the 1930's. "Cockeyed Cavaliers" is the only one of their movies I've ever seen. It's a lively, fun little movie, full of obviously deliberate anachronisms featuring Wheeler and Woolsey as a couple of ne'er do wells in 17th century (?) England, who get mistaken for the King's physicians.

The movie has an imaginative musical opening, and several musical numbers scattered throughout (The Big, Bad Wolf was great fun.) Wheeler and Woolsey get to join in the song and dance routines, and they even find romance along the way. There are also a fair number of laughs around Woolsey's character being a kleptomaniac who steals - literally - anything and everything, up to and including horses and carriages. It's a little difficult to accept that Dorothy Lee (who played Woolsey's love interest) could have been mistaken for a boy - but I guess that's just part of the movie's quirky charm.

I'm just not much of a fan of the comedy teams of this era unfortunately. (No - not even Laurel & Hardy.) But, still, this is an enjoyable enough movie to pass some time with. Fans of the genre if this era would rate this much higher than I do. (6/10)

Surprisingly enjoyable but I'm not about to join the Wheeler &. Woolsey fan club!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 21 September 2010]

This film finds Wheeler & Woolsey in a costume comedy from what appears to the 17th century. As IMDb pointed out, after the success of Laurel & Hardy in such "The Devil's Brother", RKO decided to try their own comedy team in a period piece. And, considering that most of the team's films do NOT hold up well today, it was a welcome relief to see something different. It was also welcome to see a couple familiar faces--faces you often see in Laurel & Hardy films (Billy Gilbert and Thelma Todd--who was, incidentally, also in "The Devil's Brother").

Although Bert Wheeler usually played sweet characters, here he is an odd-ball because he's a sweet guy BUT also a compulsive thief--and his antics keep getting him and Robert Woolsey in trouble. Much of the first portion of the film is basically plot-less--seeing them go from one altercation after another. This is NOT a criticism, as most of this stuff is pretty good. Later, however, the film abruptly changes when the pair are accidentally assumed to be the King's physicians! And, because of their reputations, the two are called in to care for a nobleman. There, the pair meet the man's nice, Miss Todd, and Woolsey spends most of his time making time with the lovely lady and ignoring his rich patient. I guess you can't blame him! There is also a stupid plot in which an obviously good-looking woman is assumed by the pair to be a boy!! This 'boy' is their servant and unless you are blind (or Wheeler & Woolsey) it's obvious that he's a she!! I really wish they hadn't included this in the film--it just didn't work.

In addition to the plots, there is the usual singing that you'd expect from a Wheeler & Woolsey film. While I am NOT a fan of singing in comedies (even though it was very common in the 1930s-1950s), at least the songs in this film were a bit better than average and even occasionally enjoyable--such as the song about 'Dilly Dallying'. Also, while I am loathe to say this, this film is a very, very rare case where this team actually made a better film with better music than Laurel & Hardy. "The Devil's Brother" was the inspiration for "Cockeyed Cavaliers", but instead of cutesy songs had a lot of operetta-style music--which is simply dreadful. Plus, in "The Devil's Brother", Laurel & Hardy were clearly supporting actors and their material was pretty thin. Here in "Cockeyed Cavaliers", Wheeler & Woolsey clearly are the stars--and it's a bit better than their usual work as well. However, don't assume I am now a huge fan--this is a decent film but I still think the team is deservedly little-known.

By the way, although he sounded just like him, evidently Tedd Pierce did NOT provide the voice for Bluto in the Popeye cartoons--though he had done a lot of other voices for other cartoons! I sure thought he did when I heard him talk with his booming voice! Wow....and what a singing voice--he was one of the best bass singers I've ever heard!!

truly a very silly movie ...

[didi-5 · 16 October 2003]

This is the one where the boys are in the 1600s (although you'd never guess from Woolsey's cigar and specs!), where Bert is a kleptomanic - the scene early on where he manages to steal a necklace, four horses, and finally a carriage in quick succession is a hoot - while Bob tries to keep their heads on (literally). Cutie Dorothy Lee, meanwhile, is trying to escape being married to burly oldie Robert Grieg the randy Duke, and runs away disguised as a boy.

Highlights of this fun film are the two songs - the first, The Big Bad Wolf is Dead, might go on a bit, but gives the boys a chance to do a dance routine, plus Noah Beery joining in with his magnificent bass voice; the second, Dilly Dally, is a catchy number for the boys, Dorothy, and lovely Thelma Todd (who had so much potential but would die in tragic circumstances just a year later). I also got quite a buzz from the scene in the inn which referenced the previous year's Garbo pic, Queen Christina (where the 'boy' admits she is a girl). Then of course there is the wild boar hunt, a triumph of trick photography.

Director Mark Sandrich would move on to direct Top Hat and other well-remembered movies shortly after, but this one does him and his cast proud.

A little cutting up in medieval England

[SimonJack · 6/10 · 13 March 2022]

"Cockeyed Cavaliers" is one of the best of the Wheeler and Woolsey comedy films. Set in medieval England, Bert and Bob are a couple of characters who are frequently in trouble with the law because of Bert's habit of "lifting" things. Some of the humor in this one is when odd and unusual things disappear right under people's noses, due to kleptomaniac, Bert Winstanley. For instance, a team of horses from in front of a carriage, then the carriage, etc. The musical aspects are okay, but don't add much to the comedy.

The boys are put in stocks in public where the public has a field day tossing vegetables at them. Later, they take over the identities of the king's physician and assistant, and make a call on The Duke of Weskit to cure his illness. Oh, yes, the females in the story are Thelma Todd as Lady Genevieve and Dorothy Lee as Mary Ann Dale. One of the best supporting actor butlers of the golden age of Hollywood is in this film - Robert Greig as The Duke. Some other familiar faces are Noah Beery, Billy Gilbert, and Franklin Pangborn.

The best of the humor here is in the situations and antics, although the dialog is peppered with one-liners, mostly by Woolsey. The latter was much funnier in its day than in modern times because of its delivery. Some actors - especially comedians, had carried a vaudeville habit of speaking to the audience into films. Woolsey isn't as obvious as Groucho Marx or Red Skelton, for instance, but one can still see it in his tongue-in-cheek one-liners that are usually accompanied by raised eyebrows or darting side-glances. Two great entertainers later made films in which one or both of them would speak to the audience directly. In the Road Show films and some others of the 1950s, Bing Crosby ad Bob Hope would step aside in a scene to make a comment to the audience, looking directly into the camera. It may have been a little extra funny to some back then, but it was a characteristic that I think hampered the appeal of such films for audiences in the future.

Anyway, this is a funny film with Bert and Bob looking even more hilarious when they don the fancy English costumers. Here are some favorite lines from this film.

Robert Waltravers (Bob Woolsey), "She's liable to have us beheaded." Bert Winstanley (Bert Wheeler), "Beheaded? Can she d that?" Bob, "Sure, she can be had." (sic)

Bert, "You know, the doctor says I'm a kleptomaniac." Bob, "Yeah, well why don't you take something for it?" Bert, "I've taken everything."

Bert, "Do you think we ought a send for a lawyer?" Bob, "Certainly not. We're in enough trouble as it is."

Merrie Old England

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 26 April 2019]

Cockeyed Cavaliers has Wheeler and Woolsey as a Restoration period kleptomaniac and his good friend. Wheeler and his taking ways land Bert and Bob in the village stocks in a very funny sequence. Rescuing them is their perennial leading lady Dorothy Lee who has been contracted to become a lady in waiting for Duke Robert Grieg's duchess Thelma Todd with the idea is that the Duke will take his pleasures.

Lee rescues the guys while she is fleeing in male drag. But they wind up back at Grieg's court with Bert and Bob pretending to be visiting royal physicians with their apprentice. Bert finds out Lee is a girl and Bob expresses some nasty thoughts to the duchess.

It's all climaxed with wild wild boar hunt. Very funny stuff although Woolsey plays the whole film without his ever present cigar which hadn't been invented yet.

Uneven vehicle for Wheeler and Woolsey

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 7 April 2013]

There are parts of "Cockeyed Cavaliers" that will seem antiquated to modern audiences, like the atrocious "operatic" song that opens the movie. And most of the jokes are not that funny, either ("I hope our paths cross again" - "I hope so too" - "That makes it a double-cross"). And the assumption that anyone could mistake Dorothy Lee for a boy is mind-numbingly stupid. But the film has its strong points too: Wheeler and Woolsey do a terrific little tap dance together, and Wheeler has a lovely, romantic, almost magical song-and-dance duet with the indescribably sweet Dorothy Lee - you really do get the feeling those two are kindred spirits. Sexy and seductive Thelma Todd adds more spice, and there is a frenetic chase climax on a carriage without a driver, but with a wild boar on top! All in all, if you don't want to re-watch the Marx Brothers once more, these guys make acceptable substitutes. **1/2 out of 4.

Costume Capers With Mr. Wheeler & Mr. Woolsey

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 26 November 2000]

A Duke's fleeing fiancée & a brutal Baron's wayward wife find unexpected help from two COCKEYED CAVALIERS.

This was the most lavish film to star the comedy team of Wheeler & Woolsey (Bert Wheeler is the short fellow with the curly hair; Robert Woolsey is the skinny guy with the cigar) and it is a funny, frantic farce from start to finish. With a plot full of mistaken identities, distressed damsels, ferocious boars & goofy chases, Director Mark Sandrich never allows the pace to slow down for long.

Pert Dorothy Lee & beautiful, doomed Thelma Todd more than hold their own with the Boys and their antics. Robert Greig, as the Duke, is the perfect picture of a very obese sensualist. Noah Beery, as the Baron, is wonderful, as usual, as a beefy bully.

Movie mavens will spot Franklin Pangborn as a harmonious town crier and Billy Gilbert as a jolly innkeeper, both unbilled.

The Boys introduce the boisterous tavern song 'And The Big Bad Wolf Was Dead' - during which Beery gets to unleash his impressive basso profundo. Miss Lee & Hot Toddy join the Boys in trilling 'Dilly Dally.'

An absolute howl from start to finish!

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 6 March 2007]

One of the funniest films ever made, Cockeyed Cavaliers is an absolute riot of side-splitting mayhem from its inventively sung-dialogue start to its wild boar wow of a finish. For once, Woolsey is not over-shadowed by his partner. In fact, here he is by far the dominant figure. Not only does he get to romance glorious Hot Toddy (of all people), but he's equally hilarious in song and dance. And the way he cleverly appropriates Garret and Spence's additional dialogue to make it seem like an inspired series of ad libs (maybe it actually is) made me roll in the aisle. Oddly, whilst he shares many wonderful slapstick routines with Wheeler, the main stooge for his verbal jousts is Noah Beery, who enjoys the grandest time of his life as a buffoonish heavy. I never dreamed that Noah Beery (who spent most of his career playing the sort of roles brother Wallace rejected) had the makings of a such a splendid clown. The rest of the players led by the vibrant pocket Venus, Dorothy Lee, and rounded out by Robert Greig doing full justice to his dyspeptic duke, are a credit to RKO's unsung genius of a casting director. And as for the work of Mark Sandrich, take your choice of superb, sensitive, skillful and smooth. Other credits (special bows for the photographer and editor) are equally adept, while production values rate as literally out of this world.

"No, you don't steal--you just find a lot of things that haven't been lost, that's all!"

[Maleejandra · 8/10 · 8 June 2008]

Wheeler and Woolsey find themselves in the era of kings and castles, but that won't stop them. Wheeler can't help but steal everything he sees from jewelry to horses to carriages. It's a disease, after all, and the trance-like state that carries him away causes giggles among viewers. The two men impersonate two noble men including a doctor and go to the Baron (Noah Beery) to diagnose him. The Baron is gone for the time being, but the beautiful Lady Genevieve (Thelma Todd) is home. Marital bliss-- hooey! You'd find yourself calling "Yoo-hoo" too.

The beginning of the film is perhaps the funniest, which can feel a bit disappointing by the end, but really, there are great moments throughout. The music provides a great many laughs, and even though the transition into song is a bit awkward, the use of musical numbers illustrates the absurdity of the film. It is pure fun and nothing else. Fans of early comedy will delight. Now why aren't Wheeler and Woolsey better known?