The Cuckoos
Directed by Paul Sloane
Written by Cyrus Wood based on a musical play by Guy Bolton, Harry Ruby and Bert Kalmar
1931/US
RKO Radio Pictures
IMDb page
First viewing/Amazon Prime rental
Flapper: You’re Americans, aren’t you?
Professor Cunningham: Yes, yes, but we can’t lend you any money.
Back for another dose of Wheeler and Woolsey tom-foolery.
Sparrow (Bert Wheeler) and Professor Cunningham (Robert Woolsey) are fake fortune tellers who have somehow wound up in Mexico near a gypsy camp. The camp is run by an expert knife thrower who covets young American Anita (Dorothy Lee) who has lived with the gypsies since she was four. Sparrow and Anita instantly fall in love when they meet and the knife thrower is out for vengeance.
At the same time, a wealthy lady is trying to break up a romance between her niece and clean-cut American Billy and force her to marry a baron. The lady has her niece kidnapped and Anita also is dragged back to the camp. Fun and frolic ensue.
There’s more music and musical numbers than usual. The best is Wheeler and Lee’s “I Love You So Much” duet. The aviator/niece subplot slows down the proceedings but the aunt is pretty funny and has a good number with Woolsey. Not the duo’s best perhaps, but there are several laugh out loud moments.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hszjf_6gsgA&t=1s
