Whoopee! (1930)

Now this is a film very much of it's time, so anyone with sensitivities to black-facing etc. might wish to avoid. What the film is actually about centres on the story of a sheriff "Bob" (John Rutherford) who is loved up with "Sally" (Eleanor Hunt). They are to be married, but she's got eyes for "Wanenis" (Paul Gregory) and needless to say nobody is too keen on any form of inter-racial horseplay! Anyway, she does a bunk with the scene-stealing hypochondriac "Henry" (Eddie Cantor) and we proceed to see them pursued by her fiancé and his infatuated nurse "Mary" (Ethel Shutta). Cantor is on decent enough form here as the man who has enough imaginary illnesses and phobias to keep an infirmary busy for a year, and his dynamic with the dewey-eyed "Mary" is quite fun at times. He also delivers solid renditions of Gus Kahn and Walter Donaldson's "Making Whoopee" and "My Baby Just Cares for Me" that really do help this otherwise predictable ninety minutes along memorably. Nope, there's not really much jeopardy with the romantically comedic plot, and the presentation is a bit episodic and certainly theatrical at times, but there's just about enough humour to keep it going for ninety minutes and it's a telling reminder of just what kept our grandparents entertained - and of just what was acceptable back then, too!