Cracked Nuts

(1931)
 

\
 
 

Provided by noted film historian/author
William M. Drew
 

From "The Screen" by Mordaunt Hall.  The New York Times, April 6, 1931

Putting a King on the Spot

CRACKED NUTS, a specially written screen story by Douglas MacLean and Al Boasberg; directed by Edward Cline; produced by Radio Pictures. At the Globe.
Wendel Graham. . . . . . . . . .. . . . . .Bert Wheeler
Zander Ulysses Parkhurst. . . . .  . Robert Woolsey
Betty Harrington. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dorothy Lee
Aunt Minnie. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Edna May Oliver
Carlotta. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Leni Stengel
Gen. Bogardus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Stanley Fields
King Oscar. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Harvey Clark
Revolutionist. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Boris Karloff

"Cracked Nuts," the new picture at the Globe, is a clever farce that deserves a better title.  Yesterday afternoon the performances of Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey and Edna May Oliver kept an audience in convulsions of laughter.  This production skips along so merrily that it actually seems too short.

Douglas MacLean, the former comedian of silent films, and Al Boasberg are responsible for the story, while Ralph Spence, the wise-cracking title writer of the voiceless pictures, and Mr. Boasberg supplied the dialogue.  Edward Cline was entrusted with the direction.  These men and the players have done an excellent job of work, even though it does have a little old vaudeville stuff in a few scenes.

Never has a king gone out to be executed with more nonchalance than King Zup of El Dorania.  Because his pal, Wendel Graham, who had $100,000 to finance a revolution in the land, refuses to shoot Zup, the imaginative General Bogardus is struck with the happy idea of having His Royal Highness sit on his throne in the regal palace garden and be bombed from the sky.  Zup has some narrow shaves, but in the end one of the bombs explodes over an oil gusher and all concerned suddenly become interested in the future wealth of El Dorania, while Zup's suggestion of having a president instead of a king meets with the approval of the military authorities and others.  Zup cheats Wendel Graham out of the chance to be president and he then appoints Aunt Minnie (Edna May Oliver) Secretary of War.

Zup's real name is Zander Ulysses Parkhurst, which nobody can pronounce in El Dorania, so they decide on the three-letter appellation.  He is Zup, the thirteenth king.  It is an old El Doranian tradition that anybody who wins the crown must wear it and Zup becomes the possessor of the sparkling headgear and symbol through throwing sevens in a dice game with his predecessor, Oscar, who, by pretending to be killed, succeeds in taking the next steamship from his native land.

Zup, impersonated by Mr. Woolsey, is a stickler for uniforms while he is in office.  After adorning himself in various military and naval regalias, he elects to appear before his court with a long cape, which when doffed reveals the ruler clad in the uniform of an El Doranian Highlander.  At the outset Zup is somewhat disappointed at the cheering for him, and he eventually succeeds in arousing the elite of the nation to giving a royal yell, which terminates with "King!  King!  King!"

Graham, meanwhile, has his hectic experiences in New York in courting the fair Betty Harrington, for the girl's Aunt Minnie insists that he is a worthless specimen of humanity.  In one of the early scenes Graham hides in Aunt Minnie's shower bath, and the spectators in the Globe roared with delight when Aunt Minnie turned on the water without noticing her pet aversion.  Graham has further encounters with the lank woman when he is aboard the vessel bound for El Dorania.

It is soon after Graham's arrival in the country--then ruled by Zup--that General Bogardus instructs him to shoot the king.

Graham breaks the news to Zup none too gently by saying that he has orders to put a bullet through an individual to whom he is going to give a good meal before the execution of the sentence.  After the waiter has brought him the largest lobster available, Zup suddenly has a brain wave and realizes that the nice new pistol is to be pointed at him.  And nobody can argue Graham out of his intentions better than Zup.  In fact, he succeeds so admirably that it looks as though Graham is going to be put out of the way as soon as Zup has been destroyed.

It is all wild nonsense, but it is funny.  Mr. Woolsey is excellent and Mr. Wheeler does splendidly as Graham.  He also dances and sings with the comely Dorothy Lee, who appears as Betty.  Miss Oliver, as usual, makes the most of her role.