IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

One thing I never expected to see was a Wheeler & Woolsey film on Blu-ray.  That’s not to say that I think that the 1930s comedy team or their films are undeserving of restoration and high-definition releases.  Quite the contrary.  I’m a fan.  I simply didn’t think that there was enough financial incentive to go to the expense of new HD scans of the film elements, because the once-loved comedy team (second only to Laurel & Hardy in popularity during the 1930s) is virtually unknown by today’s audiences.  Happily, Warner Brothers decided to roll the dice with a Blu-ray release of Kentucky Kernels (1934) from a 4K scan of the original nitrate camera negative.  I hope that I’m wrong about the sales prospects of this Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray, because it is one of the best-looking video releases of the year, and I would love to see more of the team’s comedies get the same treatment.

For those who have never heard of Wheeler & Woolsey, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey were solo vaudevillians who were teamed by chance for the 1928 Broadway musical Rio Rita.  That led to a trip to Hollywood for RKO’s 1929 film adaptation of the play.  The moviegoing public was so impressed by Wheeler & Woolsey’s comic timing and song-and-dance skills that RKO decided to sign the pair to a film contract as an official comedy team.  During the Depression, the duo became box office champs and kept RKO afloat almost single-handedly.  Unfortunately, their partnership came to an untimely end after 21 films, due to Woolsey’s death from kidney failure in 1938.

Even though I grew up as a classic comedy nerd, watching the movies of Chaplin, Keaton, W.C. Fields, the Marx Brothers, Abbott & Costello and others from my preschool years forward, I didn’t discover Wheeler & Woolsey until I was out of college.  The team’s films rarely screened on television, and until the years of laserdisc, they were hard to come by on home video.  When I did encounter the pair, I took to them immediately.  Their earliest films are a bit creaky (like the Marx Brothers’ The Cocoanuts), but their best comedies–Peach O’Reno (1931); Hips, Hips, Hooray! (1934); and Cockeyed Cavaliers (1934)–are as good or better than most of the movies of their contemporaries.  Even their lesser efforts are on par with middling Abbott & Costello films, and the musical numbers, which often slow down other classic comedies, are a highlight of Wheeler & Woolsey films, because they show off the boys’ considerable skills as song-and-dance men.

Kentucky Kernels (1935) was the team’s biggest box office hit, but it was also the beginning of a decline in quality for their comedies.  Wheeler & Woolsey were solidly Pre-Code comedians, always happy to pepper their films with risque jokes and scantily clad women.  With the coming of the Production Code, suggestive jokes and sexy content was off limits.  Consequently, instead of pairing the duo with the cute, Kewpie doll vamp, Dorothy Lee (who co-starred with the team in 13 of their films), and sexy comedienne Thelma Todd (who had joined Dorothy in the prior two W&W features), the boys were teamed in Kentucky Kernels with six-year-old George “Spanky” McFarland (borrowed from Hal Roach’s Our Gang series).  The resulting film has less bite than prior Wheeler & Woolsey comedies.  However, the duo still manage to wring quite a few chuckles from limper material.

The set-up is pretty far-fetched.  A rich, jilted suitor tries to commit suicide by jumping off a bridge, but he lands in the fishing net of a couple of unemployed vaudevillians, The Great Elmer (Woolsey) and his magician’s assistant, Willie Dugan (Wheeler).  The boys suggest that the socialite adopt an orphan in order to get over his heartbreak, which is a rather labored way of bringing Spanky into the story.  As soon as Elmer and Willie pick up Spanky, the socialite makes up with his fiancee, and he leaves the boys to look after the kid on their own.  Then, it turns out that Spanky not only has a penchant for breaking glass (which becomes as running gag); he has also inherited a Southern plantation.  The boys travel with Spanky to Kentucky to take possession of the property, only to find out that a blood-feud with a neighboring family comes with the real estate.

While Kentucky Kernels is not a top-tier Wheeler & Woolsey vehicle, it is enjoyable throughout its brisk 75-minute running time, and I took great pleasure in watching the movie in such a gorgeous video presentation (check out my comments in the “Video” section below).  Wheeler & Woolsey have such great comic timing and delivery that they make up for any deficiencies in the screenplay.  Adding to the fun are Spanky, Marx Brothers-regular Margaret Dumont, comic foil Noah Berry Sr., and music by Bert Kalmar & Harry Ruby (who wrote the Marx Brothers’ most memorable songs).  Not only is Kentucky Kernels one of the most surprising Blu-rays of the year; it is also one of the most enjoyable.

A warning — Being that the setting for much of this movie is a Southern plantation, some moments will come across as cringe-inducing today. Modern audiences will find the character of Buckshot, played by African-American character comedian Willie Best (billed in the credits under the incredibly racist name of “Sleep ‘n’ Eat”), to be the most problematic.  Willie Best was a very talented comic actor, but the character of Buckshot plays into racist stereotypes, so his scenes are uncomfortable to watch.

USA/B&W-75m./Dir: George Stevens/Wr: Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby, and Fred Guiol/Cast: Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, George “Spanky” McFarland, Mary Carlisle, Noah Beery Sr., Lucille La Verne, Willie Best, Margaret Dumont

For Fans of: Early Wheeler and Woolsey films feel much like the Paramount Marx Brothers comedies, and the later W&W films feel more like Abbott & Costello movies.  If you like A&C or the Marx Bros., you will likely enjoy Kentucky Kernels and other W&W films.

Video: The Warner Archive Collection Blu-ray release of Kentucky Kernels is absolutely beautiful.  The image, derived from a new 4K scan of the original camera negative, is silvery with appropriate film grain throughout.  I could detect no age-related scratches or debris.  In short, the image is absolutely pristine, and it is easily the best the movie has looked, in any format, since its original release.  In fact, it probably looks better on Blu-ray than it did in most theaters in 1934.

The audio is also solid, without age-related hiss.  Finally, optional English subtitles are provided for the feature.  Fans of the film should be overjoyed with the video presentation, as it is surprisingly good for a inexpensively-made comedy from the 1930s.  Hopefully, this release will sell well enough to encourage similar releases of more Wheeler & Woolsey titles.

The new 4K HD scan is the real selling point of this disc, but the Warner Archive has provided a few vintage cartoons from 1934 to accompany the main feature:

• Buddy’s Circus — If you find the character of Buckshot in Kentucky Kernels cringe-inducing, you best skip Buddy’s Circus, as the cartoon is full of racist caricatures.  I’m glad that Warner Brothers chooses to present their more problematic films uncut, with a disclaimer to put the films in context, but I’m rather surprised that they chose to include this cartoon on the disc at all.  There must have been better examples of Warner Brothers animation from 1934, since Buddy’s Circus is unimaginative, unfunny, and very, very racist.
• The Dance Contest — Almost all of the Fleischer Brothers’ Popeye cartoons are delightful, so it is great that two are included on this disc.  In this one, Popeye and Olive Oyl enter a dance contest and are harassed by Bluto.  The only thing that is off at all in this cartoon is Popeye’s voice, as this is one of the shorts in which Mae Questel voiced both Olive and Popeye.
• Sock-a-Bye Baby — In this one, Popeye is babysitting and has to deal with a bunch of noisemakers that are keeping a baby from sleeping.

You can purchase the Blu-ray directly from the Warner Archive or from other online retailers (Amazon link below).

Streaming: Kentucky Kernels can be rented or purchased in standard definition through Amazon, but you won’t get the beautiful 4K restoration provided on the Blu-ray.  The film is not currently streaming as part of any of the major subscription services.

More to Explore: I don’t know if the original negative still exists for any of the other Wheeler & Woolsey films, but if you want to see more W&W titles on Blu-ray, I’d highly recommend that you purchase this release.  Happily, most of Wheeler & Woolsey’s features are availble via a manufacture-on-demand DVD from the Warner Archive.  I’d suggest starting with Wheeler & Woolsey – The RKO Comedy Classics Collection Vol. 1 (which collects nine titles, including Hips, Hips, Hooray!) and Vol. 2 (which collects six titles including Cockeyed Cavaliers).

Trivia: Kentucky Kernels was the first film to team Wheeler & Woolsey with Hal Roach cameraman-turned-director George Stevens.  Stevens would later go on to fame as the director of the dramas A Place in the Sun (1951), Shane (1953), Giant (1956), and The Diary of Anne Frank (1959).

For More Info: One of my favorite film books is Wheeler & Woolsey: The Vaudeville Comic Duo and Their Films, 1929-1937 by Edward Watz.  I read the book before I saw any of the W&W films, and it is an excellent read whether or not you are familiar with the team.