JohnHowardReid Rousingly schizophrenic entertainment, Whoopee! is simultaneously one of the best yet one of the worst musicals ever made. It's tempting to say that all the bits Busby Berkeley directed are great, whilst the book Thornton Freeland handled is uniformly lousy, but that would not be wholly true. Some of the Freeland stuff is not only competently managed, but actually very amusing. So let's say that all the Busby Berkeley scenes are marvellous and Freeland is reasonably proficient so long as Eddie Cantor is in camera range. Once the camera moves away from Cantor to focus on another player or group of players, the direction goes to pot. Of course just how far Freeland's efforts sink into the mire depends on the players. By far the most consistently able is William H. Philbrick, who makes an excellent stooge for Eddie and introduces all that hilarious business with the waffles (which he delightfully mispronounces to rhyme with "baffles"). Albert Hackett also has a glorious moment or two, Spencer Charters (reprising his Broadway role) tires hard, whilst Ethel Shutta makes a startling improvement as the film progresses from walking disaster to highly appealing comedienne. Unfortunately there's a large group of "actors" who remain uniformly lousy in all their Freeland-directed scenes. Mind you, it's hard to say who gives the worst performance. Paul Gregory and John Rutherford tie neck-and-neck for that distinction all the way through. Now Gregory is lousier than Rutherford, now Rutherford stinks worse than Gregory, and so on. I'm afraid it ends as a tie. It's just too abysmally close to call. A joint plaque for the Worst Performance Ever Given in a Lead Role in a Major Motion Picture. That the bad acting is as much the fault of Freeland as the thespians is readily apparent when you see the same performers in their Berkeley-directed numbers. Although he serves as little more than background to Cantor's blackface routine, "My Baby Just Cares For Me", Rutherford seems far less amateurish than usual. Berkeley maintains that he convinced Goldwyn to let him direct as well as stage the musical numbers, even though this didn't accord with then standard Hollywood practice. Berkeley's position is borne out by a close examination of the movie. Berkeley's fluid camera style and his choice of unusual angles, including his famous overhead shots, is a marked contrast to Freeland's flat work where the camera is nailed to the floor, except for a slight degree of panning. Movement is achieved not by moving the camera but by remarkably skillful cutting from medium shot to close-up, often smoothly effected in the middle of sentences. My examination reveals that Berkeley didn't direct or stage all the songs. Both the "I'll Still Belong to You" solo and the closing reprise of "My Baby Just Cares For Me" were staged by Freeland - and in the case of the Gregory solo, atrociously at that. On the numbers he did direct, Berkeley did pick-up dialogue as well. This partly explains Shutta's remarkable transformation. It's hard to believe the Shutta of the "Stetson" song is the same girl who made such a hammy stooge for Eddie in his opening scene. Fortunately, it's Cantor's film. Except for his initial scenes where is let down by poor material and flat direction, he hardly ever puts a foot wrong. His timing is perfect. While the rest of the players over-act as if they were back on the Podunk stage (it's hard to credit they were just about all drawn from the original show on Broadway), Cantor brilliantly adjusts his persona for the camera, toning down his mannerisms and projecting his image mostly to a nicety. And it's not only his numbers that are highlights. Even some of his jaded jokes are genuinely funny, - particularly his laugh-a-second run-in with Hackett and the plates. Aside from the variable direction, technical credits are Goldwyn perfect, with fascinating two-strip Technicolor (here in perfect register), attractive if obviously stage-inspired sets, breathtakingly skilful film editing, odd but likable costumes, and absolutely superb sound recording . Whilst Whoopee! deserves to be seen on a big cinema screen for maximum enjoyment, the video cassette is of outstanding quality. (The cover features Eddie with Muriel Finley (the only chorus girl hired from the Broadway show) on his right (our left!) and Ruth Eddings. According to the blurb (and many reference books), Betty Grable is the chorine who tackles the opening "Cowboy Number". This is incorrect. Betty is the little blonde with the most youthful face in the line-up. She has the last close-up in the "Stetson" parade. Another blonde I recognized is Virginia Bruce. Oddly, I fared less happily with the men. I couldn't spot Dean Jagger or Ed Cobb. But is that Walter Brennan as a bearded, tuxedoed wedding guest?

ccthemovieman-1 If for no other reason, this is an amazing film because it was shot in Technicolor - in 1930! It's primitive color, but very interesting at times and intriguing to view. Although the story and humor are very dated, Eddie Cantor is very funny at times playing the super hypochondriac.There are lots of gags, and like the Marx Brothers films, so many that you can't catch them all. Also like the MB, some of the humor is topical, so audiences of today aren't going to get what people would laugh at in 1930. Through all the jokes - many stupid and many clever - Cantor is a likable guy and also a good singer. As I wrote with another review (Roman Scandals) I am just sorry this talented man doesn't have his films out on DVD. The songs in here are decent, too, some of them very catchy. They also have the added attraction of having the Busby Berkeley joining in.Make no mistake: this is a "sappy" film, so dated it's extremely stupid in spots....but definitely something for the film collector.

MartinHafer In its day, this must have been a fine picture and I'm sure it made Sam Goldwyn a lot of money. But, after 76 years, this film has not aged well. In fact, much of the humor seems pretty unfunny nowadays--especially since some of it is so offensive towards Indians and Blacks. Cantor in black face and natives who continually say "ugggh" were considered funny stereotypes when WHOOPEE was playing on stage and film, but this just provides uncomfortable today. In fact, considering that so many jokes are based on this, it may be very hard viewing for many, though I also believe you can't totally focus on this or else you'll be throwing out so much of our history. Now I am sure in 1930 they may have meant no harm by these scenes--nevertheless, this doesn't mean they are okay. Apart from these aspects of the film, the jokes seem old and the Busby Berkeley dance numbers also seem pretty out of date--though both are pretty risqué for the time--with a lot of sexual innuendos! Apart from the bizarre song and dance numbers in FLYING DOWN TO RIO, the Indian dance from this movie might just be one of the weirdest and most ridiculous numbers of the era.But the movie still gets a score of 4 because it was very competently made and the two-color Technicolor is pretty good for the era (though of course, nowhere near as nice as the later full color films). Plus, it is important historically. Even as a flawed film, it's good we still have an excellent copy--this isn't true of a lot of the films from 1930!By the way, before you assume I am a confirmed Eddie Cantor hater, understand that I have given excellent reviews to some of his later films. But just not this one.

drednm Loved it! What a treat this was. Great color, costumes and sets and of course Eddie Cantor, who now ranks as one of my favorites.Surreal plot if full of schtick and is VERY non-PC (another reason to love it) as Blacks, Indians, Jews, Gays, and Goys get lampooned by Cantor and company.Several terrific songs by Cantor, "Making Whoopee" and "My Baby Just Cares for Me," and a couple of excellent production numbers by Busby Berkley. Ethel Shutta (pronounced shoo-tay) was smashing in her "Stetson" number. I wish it had been longer.Among the show girls and dancers are Betty Grable, Ann Sothern, Virginia Bruce, Claire Dodd, and possibly Jane Wyman, and Dean Jagger (of all people) plays a deputy.The typical 20s romantic subplot between white Eleanor Hunt and Indian Paul Gregory is a drag and is the same things we've seen in the early Marx Brothers and Wheeler and Woolsey comedies.Spencer Charters plays Underwood, Marian Marsh is his daughter, Jack Rutherford is the sheriff, etc.The colors are great, the costumes fun. Flo Ziegfeld was involved show there are plenty of show girls in outrageous costumes.Shutta is a find, but it's Eddie Cantor's show all the way and he's very very funny.