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.
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.