All over the Place

I think I've mentioned seeing some Olsen and Johnson movie, but I didn't blog them because they aren't on Netflix: Hellzapoppin' (friend's copy) and Crazy House (rep movie theater).

All Over Town, however, is on Netflix. It isn't quite the same brand of insanity. Instead of constant fourth-wall breaking meta-textual surrealism, you get a pretty standard 1937 comedy. Ole and Chic are staying in a vaudeville boarding house, hiding a trained seal from their landlady (Blanche Payson).  They think they are booked for a gig at an old theater that is actually shut down due to a jinx and a murder.

It appears that they sold their Oklahoma filling station to go on the road with their seal act. When they are overheard talking about the money they got for the station, the rumor goes around that they are millionaires. They wind up backing the whole show with their imaginary fortune. When they are found out, they do the obvious - get a radio show to pay for the vaudeville show. They get the radio show by promising to reveal the murderer, of course.

Basically, a movie about putting radio show about solving a murder to pay for a vaudeville show just isn't up to their highest levels of insanity.

There's still a lot of good stuff here. Olsen and Johnson have a great line of double-talk, "Who's on first" style. You'll especially like the finale, which they narrate as sportscasters: "There's the pitch, it's a slapshot. Oh no, a 6-10 split. He's going to bunt from the 12-yard line!" and so on.

So, not classic Olsen and Johnson. You may not get what the deal is about them from this. But you will be able to watch it from Netflix.