Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

Director: EDWARD CLINE. Screenplay: Tim Whelan, Ralph Spence. Story: Tim Whelan. Additional dialogue: Bobby Clark, Robert Woolsey, Myles Connolly. Photography: Nick Musuraca. Film editor: Archie Marshek. Art director and costumes for Misses Lee, Howland and Moorhead: Max Rée. Music director: Max Steiner. Assistant director: Fred Fleck. Sound recording: Hugh McDowell. RCA Sound System. Associate producer: Myles Connolly. Producer: William LeBaron. Copyright 15 December 1930 by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. New York opening at the Mayfair: 24 December 1930. U.S. release: 26 December 1930. 75 minutes. SYNOPSIS: With an eye to the carriage trade, two sharpies re-open a rundown resort hotel in Florida. COMMENT: Although hampered both by director Eddie Cline's rather static early talkies' technique and a rather unevenly paced script with gags flying thick and fast being suddenly replaced by ho-hum turns of the straight and narrow plot, this is still a highly watchable Wheeler and Woolsey. The biggest disappointment is the complete absence of musical numbers (aside from the welcome intrusion of an orchestral dance band). On the other hand, the comic capers are splendidly re-inforced by Hugh Herbert and George F. Marion (of all people!), with a nice assist from both Jobyna Howland and Natalie Moorhead when they finally get into stride. A minor problem is the complete absence of background music which often gives the effect that the comedians are playing in an echo chamber. Production values are top-drawer. Rée's vast hotel set is a wonder to behold. AVAILABLE on DVD through Alpha. Quality rating: Nine out of ten.

You better be careful if you're ever around anybody like Robert Woolsey. Everything you say can be the set-up for a wisecrack. "I'm not as big a fool as I used to be", George F. Marion says. "Why? Have you been dieting?", Woolsey replies. I could spend my entire review quoting this script of burlesque jokes older than Methuselah, but you're simply better off just watching the film and discovering each delightfully sardonic retort he gives, whether it be partner Bert Wheeler, matronly Jobyna Howland or elderly bellman Marion.The basic story is a rip-off of the Marxx Brothers' "The Cocoanuts", a 1929 musical farce about a jewelry heist at a posh hotel. Here, Wheeler and Woolsey volunteer to assist pretty Dorothy Lee in running the run-down hotel she has inherited, and in the process, become involved with a gang of thieves who have been utilizing the hotel's basement as a warehouse for their stash. While it is easy to criticize the film on its unrealistic treatment of human relationships (the initial Wheeler/Lee exchange is quite awkward), once you get past those quibbles and bits, you can find a lot to amuse yourself with here. The exchange between Woolsey and Howland is pure Groucho Marxx/Margaret Dumont, and it is hysterical to see the Amazonian Howland dancing with Woolsey standing on her feet to guide him around the room. Natalie Moorehead plays basically the same character that Kay Francis played in "The Cocoanuts" with a rather uncanny resemblance to "Bullwinkle's" Natasha (with a platinum dye job). The shoot-out at the finale is also very funny. While this may be one of Wheeler and Woolsey's weaker films (it definitely creaks as loudly as the hotel stairs), it has many amusing moments. This is one time where you just throw the plot out and go for the gags.

The downside of this movie, one of the early collaborations of Bert Wheeler (the sweet curly-haired guy) and Robert Woolsey (the cigar-chomping wise guy), has one major failing for me: no musical numbers! I think this is the only one of the their nine-year series at RKO not to have even one song, and I missed that.Anyway, the film is pretty much on-form. The boys play insurance agents who go into the hotel business after meeting heiress Dorothy Lee (I think this is her weakest performance, far too stilted to make any kind of good impression on the viewer). The hotel she has inherited is a wreck but they soon make it good (how we don't see) and attract the attentions of some jewel thieves. Dorothy's mother (the large and booming-voiced Jobyna Howland) and her intended (the urbane Ralf Harolde who played a similar role in the earlier 'Dixiana') also arrive to thwart the plans made so far. In support are Stanley Fields, George Marion (as the oldest bellhop in the world), and Hugh Herbert (the sleepy house detective), and all are watchable.There are a few highlights amongst the set pieces, the noirish shootout at the end, Natalie Moorhead as the fake Duchess vamping the boys for the safe code, Howland's tales to Woolsey about her numerous previous marriages, and more. Good stuff, but that scene with Bert and Dorothy planning their future by the hotel till really needs a song!

While this comedy falls off a little towards the end, it's still a great repository for the Funny Stuff that W and W did best. You might call Bert and Bob "Dumb and Smarter", with Wheeler's sweet-natured shlub a perfect match for Woolsey's sly, Groucho-esque wisecracker. The story shell is pure silliness, and the double-entendres come fast and furious. This certainly isn't their best vehicle, but anytime you see these guys in the cable schedule(which, alas, is not often), WATCH 'EM!!