Olsen and Johnson, a pair of stage comedians, try to turn their play into a movie and bring together a young couple in love, while breaking the fourth wall every step of the way.
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Title: Hellzapoppin' (1941)
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Nominated for
1
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Cast
| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Ole Olsen | ... | Ole Olsen | |
| Chic Johnson | ... | Chic Johnson | |
| Martha Raye | ... | Betty Johnson | |
| Hugh Herbert | ... | Quimby | |
| Jane Frazee | ... | Kitty Rand | |
| Robert Paige | ... | Jeff Hunter | |
| Mischa Auer | ... | Pepi | |
| Richard Lane | ... | Director | |
| Lewis Howard | ... | Woody Taylor | |
| Clarence Kolb | ... | Andrew Rand | |
| Nella Walker | ... | Mrs. Rand | |
| Shemp Howard | ... | Louie | |
| Elisha Cook Jr. | ... | Harry Selby | |
 |
Frank Darien | ... | Man Calling for Mrs. Jones |
|
|
Catherine Johnson | ... | Lena - Lady Looking for Oscar |
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Plot Summary
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Storyline
Ole and Chick are making a movie, but the director is not satisfied. So he brings them to a young writer, who outlines them an absurd story. They have to support Jeff and Kitty in setting up a musical revue in their garden and want to bring it up on Broadway. If Jeff is successful he can marry Kitty. But there is his rich friend Woody, who also loves Kitty, Chick's sister Betty, who's in love with a false Russian count, and detective Quimby. They all make the thing very complicated for Ole and Chick. After some mistakes they think that Kitty isn't the right girl for Jeff and they start sabotaging the show, but the Broadway producer is impressed and signs the contract. That's the story the writer tells them. For this he's sued by the director. Written by Stephan Eichenberg <eichenbe@fak-cbg.tu-muenchen.de>
Plot Keywords:
screwball comedy | breaking the fourth wall | frankenstein's monster | water ballet | disappearing trick |Taglines:
AT LAST IT'S ON THE SCREEN! Greater than the Stage Show! See more »Parents Guide:
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See full technical specs »
Details
Country:
USALanguage:
EnglishRelease Date:
26 December 1941 (USA) See more »Also Known As:
De studio draait zot See more »Company Credits
Show more on
IMDbPro »
Technical Specs
Runtime:
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)Color:
Black and WhiteAspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1
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Did You Know?
Trivia
Stuntman Dale Van Sickel appears as the Frankenstein Monster in a gag cameo, making him the first person after Boris Karloff to portray the Monster on film. See more »Goofs
Betty picks up a rifle with a bayonet attached, but in the next shot it's a double-barreled shotgun. See more »Crazy Credits
"......any similarity between HELLZAPOPPIN' and a motion picture is purely coincidental." See more »Frequently Asked Questions
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For those who feel the Marxes were the last word in over the top hollywood product, I heartily recommend this adaptation of the Broadway show that made Ole and Johnson such a huge sensation, albiet briefly. This one has non-stop gags (not all of which work), and is unlike anything I have ever seen the studio system produce. H.C. Potter is credited with the direction, but its hard to imagine him doing more than assembling the cast each morning and saying "Okay folks - go nuts!"
A habitue of the 60s might describe this as a Crosby and Hope road picture on acid, but that's missing the point. Audiences embraced this thing in part because it represented an exhausting escape from what was becoming a pretty stressful world.
See it whenever you can!