Popular reviews

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  Review by Sally Jane Black 1

  It opens with a scene of hell. Men and women are tormented for their sings, devils forge pitchforks, and an industrial vision of eternal damnation plays out... to lively, peppy music. Moments later, it shatters the fourth wall and jumps into a romantic comedy, but none of that matters. This is positively Marxist, and it has nothing to do with economics. This is concentrated absurdity. It has a bit more focus on its plot than, say, Duck Soup, but not by much. The plot is a backbone that they build lunacy onto.

  It digresses wildly. It hops from song to song without reason. It sets up gags and knocks them down, and it doesn't let reality get in the way.…

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  Review by Remobo ★★★★★ 5

  The anarchic energy, the joke per second script, the recognition of true talent book-ended by the spoofing and satirization of the industry that exploits it...the entire absurdist enthusiasm that keeps this square wheeled procession moving faster than a bullet train speaks to my very soul and everything that I am.

  Finding this film, this morning, after it has existed on this planet for 80 years, was like bumping into a perfect stranger and finding out that they were my long-lost twin, separated at birth. I watched the entire thing with a stupid grin, and then immediately started it over, to re-watch my favorite parts.

  Not a movie experience I have very often, anymore, and truly something to be thankful for.

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  Review by Stephen Gillespie ★★★★★ 7

  How do you translate a show where anything can happen, a show that takes full advantage of the theatrical form and a runaway success into a feature film? Well, exactly like this.

  Conversations about the greatest screen comedy should always include Hellzapoppin'. The show where anything can happen becomes the film that keeps surprising. If you've ever thought a Marx Bros movie does not quite have enough gags and has too much plot, well, this is the film for you. This has more rapid fire gags than Airplane! and they're cinematic gags too. Yes, sight gags litter both films but, in Hellzapoppin', the jokes are often constructed in uniquely cinematic ways.

  We have editing tricks used as punchlines as parts…

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  Review by Sean Gilman ★★★★★ 4

  Sign me up for the "Hellzapoppin' is the Greatest Thing Ever" club.

  Full review here.

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  Review by pd187 ★★★★★

  "ice" punchlines worthy of da drought/dedication-era wayne

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  Review by ❄️ Cammmalot ❄️ ★★★★

  Cinematic Time Capsule
  1941 Marathon - Film #89

  ”Any similarity between HELLZAPOPPIN' and a motion picture is purely coincidental.”

  This surrealistic live action looney-tune is a like a caffeinated powder-keg of comedic chaos as it gleefully breaks every rule in the cinematic rulebook, then writes some new rules, and immediately sets about breaking those rules as fast as it can.

  In fact, it’s such a supremely bizarre and meta-aware movie that it even earned an Oscar nomination for a song that wasn’t even in the film!

  Then as if that’s not enough, out of nowhere comes one of the best dance numbers I’ve ever seen, as Whitey's Lindy Hoppers proceed to put on a heart pounding display of rhythmic dancing…

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  Review by Allan Arkush ★★★★★ 2

  I LOVE THIS INSANE MOVIE. Huge influence that breaks the 3rd, 4th, and 5th wall. SEE IT SOON

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  Review by Noah Thompson ★★★★½ 8

  Anything can happen, and it probably will.

  The only reason I can think of as to why Hellzapoppin' isn't universally considered one of the best movies ever made is that barely anyone has seen it. Only 3.3k people on Letterboxd, 2.9k on IMDb, websites dedicated to the watching and rating of movies has barely touched this, and I think that's just a crime. This is a movie of a movie of a movie of a script of a possible movie dramatized as a movie where the people who are the main characters of the movie in the movie also find themselves interacting with the movie of a movie of a movie of a script of a possible movie. Hellzapoppin' is…

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  Review by Daisoujou ★★★★½ 1

  H E L L Z A P O P P I N'

  I can't even imagine how fresh this must have felt in 1941. Even today, almost 80 years later, this is one of the wildest rides I've ever been on. The jokes fly by every couple seconds, never stopping for a breath. It's cartoonish mayhem. The film gleefully acknowledges that it is a film; constant 4th wall breaking remains charming here despite how many times I've seen it done elsewhere. Perhaps playing with the 4th wall wasn't unheard of at the time, but this must have pushed it further than anything audiences had seen. There are jokes about the script as the film is playing out, the frame itself,…

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  Review by Ayo Edebiri

  I can't believe how funny this is! I remember being shocked by how how relevant and fun and weird it felt especially given when it was made. People have always been weird! How fun, how good!! Also? Can I be real?? I wish people danced in movies again!!! It's crazy how if I was an entertainer in 1941 I simply would Have to know how to tap dance. Or else I'd be a wife. That's it: those were your choices: tap dancer or WIFE. Should I take tap dancing lessons!! I've had ONE (1) jack and coke!

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  Review by Will Sloan ★★★★★ 1

  Like all great films, this one co-stars Shemp.

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  Review by MovingPictures ★★★★½

  HELLZAPOPPIN' (1941) USA b/w 80m.
  Directed by H. C. Potter
  Based on an original screenplay for a Broadway show by Nat Perrin, but quite different to its source.

  This film may not be appreciated by all spectators today, but I was positively chocked by the ferocity and speed.
  I still have hard to believe it.

  The only two of the cast that I managed to recognize by myself were a very young Elisha Cook Jr., and Mischa Auer, that actually was presented with his own name in the film! But there are dozens of other good performers present.

  Basically a screwball comedy/musical on steroids, that almost manage to outclass the Marx Brothers and W. C. Fields in their own game.…