Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #30861 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-21
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 75 minutes

Customer Reviews

"Hooked" On Wheeler & Woolsey?
Near the beginning of this film a character calls Wheeler and Woolsey "delightfully unfunny", talk about truth in advertising!

I'm not a big fan of Wheeler and Woolsey's comedy but I continue to watch their films mostly because they are rare. I've seen 7 of their films, TCM has been playing them quite often. Their films are harmless but, for me, not very engaging. Wheeler and Woolsey were a very popular comedy team for RKO in the 1930s but time has not been kind to them. How do I know they were popular? Because they made 21 films together. Let me tell you the way Hollywood works, they won't let you keep making films if they get nothing out of it. So someone was watching their films.

In the past I've defended Laurel & Hardy's 1940s films such as "Saps at Sea", "Air Raid Wardens", and "A Chump at Oxford". I've even defended Buster Keaton's talking pictures; "Bedroom, Bath & Parlor", "Speak Easily", and "The Passionate Plumber" and while I find Wheeler and Woolsey just as harmless and light as those films they have not left as big an impression on me. Rest a sured there is ALWAYS at least one good gag in their films. If it's really good there are two or three, the films are too short for there to be more. But as time has shown their comedy isn't as fresh as Chaplin, Laurel & Hardy, Bob Hope or the Marx Brothers.

"Hook, Line and Sinker" was the team's fifth film and was directed by Edward F. Cline. Who had directed W.C. Fields in "The Bank Dick" and "My Little Chickadee" and directed Wheeler and Woolsey in two other films "Cracked Nuts" and "High Flyers" (their last film). The plot has Wheeler and Woolsey as insurance salesman, who go into the hotel business at the sight of a pretty girl, Mary Marsh (Dorothy Lee, who appeared several times with the team including their first film "Rio Rita"). Marsh is running away from home because she does not want to marry the man her mother has chosen for her. When Wheeler sees her he instantly falls for her and wants to help her run her hotel, which has been abandon for years.

To be honest the plot isn't important. The whole reason we are going to wtach this film is strickly because we want to see Wheeler and Woolsey, right? At first I found the film slow, but slowly started having a good time and managed to actually have a smile on my face, could I actually start becoming a fan?

I wrote a review for their film "Kentucky Kernels" and at the time I thought that was their best film. I've since changed my mind as I've seen more films by them. I now think "Peach-O-Reno" is the best with "Hook, Line and Sinker" a distant second.

The film has some bright spots near the end and Woolsey, while not in the ranks of Bob Hope or Groucho Marx, can deliver a one-liner. I found a scene between Wheeler and Lee involving a gun out of character but again the film is worth seeing if for any reason because it's rare. And I even look forward to seeing more of their films in the future.

Bottom-line: Slightly better than most of the Wheeler and Woolsey films I've seen. Has some good moments here and there. It's a harmless silly movie good for those of us who enjoy comedies from the time period.