ONE of the earlier of the 26 films Wheeler and Woolsey made together in the 1930s. and FIVE of those were directed by director Ed Cline. Cline was certainly a comedy director... he had worked with Keystone in the silents, and W.C. Fields several times. Picture, sound and editing are all pretty rough, but we're lucky to still have this one around in any condition. Pretty corny but funny gags, some verbal, some sight-gags. It DOES move a little slowly, but if you stick with it, it works out. They DO keep pausing for audience laughter, which slows it way down when we see it on a tv today. The guys, Boswell and Ganzy, meet up with Mary, who has decided to go run her family's old, run-down decrepit hotel. When she doesn't know is that people are already scheming against her, so there's the conflict to be overcome. "Mary" is Dorothy Lee, who worked with Wheeler and Woolsey in about half the films they made. Did women really speak in those high-pitched, baby voices back then? and did the men fall for it? It's kind of fun, albeit a tad slow and dated by today's standards. Like watching an old vaudeville bit. Currently showing on Moonlight Movies channel. If you're a fan of Wheeler and Woolsey, you'll dig it.
Review of Hook, Line and Sinker
