Synopsis
AT LAST IT'S ON THE SCREEN! Greater than the Stage Show!
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.
1941 Directed by H. C. Potter
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.
Ole Olsen Chic Johnson Martha Raye Hugh Herbert Jane Frazee Robert Paige Mischa Auer Richard Lane Lewis Howard Clarence Kolb Nella Walker Shemp Howard Elisha Cook Jr. Frank Darien Kay Johnson Gus Schilling Slim Gaillard Slam Stewart Harlem Congeroos Olive Hatch Eddie Acuff Kathryn Adams Sig Arno Frank Austin Don Brodie George Chandler Milton Charleston Dean Collins Billy Curtis Show All…
Il cabaret dell'inferno, 헬자포핀, 헬지포핑, Hellzapoppin' - Il cabaret dell'inferno, Hellzapoppin, In der Hölle ist der Teufel los, Loquilandia, Czyste szaleństwo, Ад раскрылся, 地狱机械舞, הלזאפופין, Пекло відкрилося
In Damien Chazelle’s Babylon we see the actors and producers and the whole damn film industry was like 5% water and 95% cocaine, and whether that was the same case in the 40s as it was in the 20s, its clear they were still some remains left in the former decade. Everyone in this movie seemed they were HIGH on something. This is a fever dream. The way they break the fourth wall here would let anyone to believe their lives depended on it. Sometimes was hard for me to follow, but the film starts in hell where a bunch of gleeful demons go around their day torturing and smashing people into trash can. So maybe I missed it and…
The necessity of narratives in cinema is a plot devised by Satan.
Or so you might come to believe, by the end of H.C. Potter’s “Hellzapoppin.”
An adaption of what was in its time the longest running Broadway musical ever, “Hellzapoppin” defies description; in a very literal sense of the phrase. The movie is about the process of translating the stage show to screen, and breaks every fourth wall (probably some fifth and sixth ones as well) through the course of its breathless and chaotic hour and twenty minute runtime.
“Hellzapoppin” harkens back to the golden anarchy of vaudeville, where audiences didn’t come to see a story. They came to see a show. Even with vaudeville well consigned to the…
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.…
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!
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.
Screened at the Fox Theatre as part of the "Important Cinema Club Masterpiece Classics" series.
Respect and love to Monty Python, but everything they did with form was done here first, at 2x speed. Love and respect to Olsen & Johnson, but it's incredible how much more of an impression Martha Raye makes than them.
There's a dance number in this movie that... I mean, it's insane! How did they do it??
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…
I LOVE THIS INSANE MOVIE. Huge influence that breaks the 3rd, 4th, and 5th wall. SEE IT SOON
"Ha. Ha. You missed me. You need glasses." - A Talking Bear.
Look, if you don't like this, you don't like to laugh.