Rijndri Load of rubbish!!

Dorathen Better Late Then Never

Helllins It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

calvinnme This is one of the oldest surviving all-color talking films. The only other one I can think of from 1930 that is still with us is Universal's "King of Jazz" and "Under a Texas Moon". It will probably seem odd to you at first that the sheriff and his deputies - I assume they are deputies - are all dressed in rather cartoonish over-sized cowboy hats and pink scarves, but you have to remember two things. First this is, at heart, a musical farce and the costumes are part of that farce. Secondly, remember that two-strip Technicolor was all they had in 1930, that it was still considered a treat by the public, and that pink and blue were the colors this process rendered best.The tale that acts as a vehicle for all of Eddie Cantor's antics is a simple one, and one that is repeated in several films over the years - that of forbidden love between races. Sally, a white girl, falls in love with Wanenis, an Indian. Since such marriages were forbidden, Wanenis goes away into the wilderness to deal with the fact they cannot be together. In the meantime, Sally's father arranges for her to marry Sheriff Bob Wells. Wanenis returns on Sally's wedding day, not knowing it is her wedding day. When Sally sees Wanenis, she knows she cannot go through with the sham wedding and runs away. The fun comes in with how she runs away. She tells sickly Henry Williams (Eddie Cantor) that she and Bob are planning to elope, and that she needs him to drive her into the next town. However, she leaves a note for everyone else saying she has eloped with Henry. Not only is the vengeful sheriff, his men, and Sally's father soon hot on their trail, but Henry's aggressively love-sick nurse is after them too. Only Wanenis finds this whole thing an odd turn of events and takes a short cut to go looking for them, separate from the rest of the pack. Complications and opportunities for Cantor's always enjoyable remarks, eye movements, and musical interludes ensue.This film survives intact in splendid shape, and the Technicolor truly yields a spectacular painted desert. Although best remembered songs from this film will always be title song "Makin' Whoopee" and "My Baby Just Cares For Me", both performed by Eddie Cantor, I also really liked the love ballad sung by the star-crossed lovers Sally and Wanenis -"I'll Still Belong to You". It has an operatic quality that is typical of love songs from that era, and oddly enough was written by Nacio Herb Brown of MGM songwriting fame.Finally, let me mention the fact that some of the racial aspects of this film might leave the modern viewer squeamish such as the stereotypes of native peoples and the fact that Eddie Cantor usually appeared in black-face as part of his act and does here too. Try to remember that none of this is out of character for a film made 80 years ago and no mean-spiritedness was intended at the time. Highly recommended for a chance to see Eddie Cantor in one of his best.

Matthew Dickson Quite a surprise for such a lesser known, starless film. Whoopee! is a delightfully funny and entertaining musical comedy. Credit the comic actor, Eddie Cantor, for pretty much making the film everything it is. This nasally, spectacled, Jewish wisecracker is like a cross between Woody Allen and Groucho Marx. Plus he sings! Cantor is simply fun to watch. His comic timing is excellent and his musical numbers are as catchy as they are risqué for the time. The movie only suffers whenever Cantor is not on screen. Like many comedies of the time, there had to be a love story and a separate romantic lead. This does nothing but detract from the film, especially since the rest of the cast is completely horrible. Some of the dance sequences also drag on too long, but other than that, the film is well worth seeing.

petelush I just watched Whoopee! on an excellent laserdisc print, and my nostalgia conceit was fed yet again. The world seemed happier and lazier, the chorus girls sweeter and prettier, the tunes bouncier and brighter. Viewers' comments about Eddie Cantor prancing in blackface miss the point: it is not racism that is projected, but a society in which racism is meaningless. My conceit, of course, is absurd; there are no "good old days", and it was no bed of roses to be an average Joe or Jane in 1930 when Whoopee! was made. But movies like these are my escape to Happyland, and while a steady diet of the same would be cloying, a dip into an old musical guarantees me a dreamy uplift.

Glenn Andreiev "Whooppee!" was made at a perfect time, 1930. It has experimentation with the new two-strip Technicolor process (which gives an unreal, pleasing pastel quality). The Hays Office (the censorship arm of movies from 1934 to 1956) hadn't come in, allowing for some funny off-color jokes, and some wild costuming of shapely dancing girls. The star, Eddie Cantor was in his prime. Eddie plays a hypochondriac on a cross country auto trip. He winds up at an Indian reservation, wrongfully hunted by the Sheriff. The film moves from being a comic gift from long ago, to a scary reminder of poor race relations only 70 years ago. Eddie hides in coal stove that explodes, and he emerges in black face, allowing him to walk past his pursuers in disquise. He approaches the leading lady of the film. She sees him and yells "How dare YOU speak to ME?!" Looking past the social-incorrectness of the film, the dance numbers have some amazing choreography by Busby Berkeley, who was just beginning to discover new and exciting ways to film dancers.