Proof positive that post-modern moviemaking didn’t start with Charlie Kaufman, Hellzapoppin’ cheerfully dispenses with realism, logic and (most of the time) plot. Instead we get endless running gags, the film being projected in reverse, upside-down or out of rack, people talking back to the camera (or yelling at the projectionist), messages for the audience flashed onscreen (“Stinky Miller – your mother wants you”), talking bears and dogs, sub-Busby Berkeley swimming routines and walk-ons for Frankenstein’s monster and the sled from Citizen Kane.
Presiding over the mayhem are vaudeville comics Ole Olsen and Chick Johnson, stars of the original, way raunchier Broadway show. The romantic triangle ‘plot’ is tedious, even though it gets mercilessly spoofed, and Martha Raye’s raucous clowning soon becomes wearisome. But the whole thing’s put across with infectious energy and a bunch called the Harlem Congeroos stage the damnedest Lindy Hop you ever saw.
DVD Extras:
Extras? Hell no.
