Search - Country Gentlemen on DVD

Olsen and Johnson

Virginia Cook | Oregon, USA | 10/29/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Received these two tapes in good shape and have loved watching them. Good service and happy with the results.



If you ever come across their movie, "See My Lawyer" would you let me know.



Thanks"

McAllister & Watson, or is it Hamilton & Williams?

Annie Van Auken | Planet Earth | 03/22/2010

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In the comic programmer COUNTRY GENTLEMEN (1936), two big-city gold mine scammers flee the law. They and their ditzy secretary set up shop in little Chesterfield, where the boys assume different names and offer locals 90 G's worth of shares in an oil well that may never produce a drop.





John Sigvard "Ole" Olsen and Harold Ogden "Chic" Johnson were musicians who met in 1914 and teamed up for a comedic vaudeville act. Their freewheeling zaniness was rarely captured on film due to the confines of scripting. Both men played the buffoon on stage and in radio, but for their few movies it was giggly Johnson who acted the clown against a more restrained Olsen.



Their most famous creation, the musical revue HELLZAPOPPIN', ran on Broadway for three years then was adapted to the screen in 1941. As originally conceived, over a dozen songs were mixed with blackout sketches, farce and sight gags in a show constantly reworked to keep it topical.



Ole and Chic made only eight films between 1930 and '45, plus they contributed a couple of songs to PRIVATE SNUFFY SMITH (1942). With the advent of such teams as Abbott & Costello and Hope & Crosby, the boys faded into obscurity.



Their co-star in "Country Gentlemen" is another who unjustly never really made it big in film. Lovely Joyce Compton's specialty was dizzy blondes. She had a marvelously expressive face and a style all her own. Joyce is especially fine in Eddie Cline's THE VILLAIN STILL PURSUED HER (1940), as a spacey gal who wanders in and out of the story a couple of times. (Also seen in "Country Gentlemen": Lila Lee and Ray Corrigan.)





ALPHA VIDEO offers bargain priced, often hard-to-find vintage movies that are ideal for those willing to skip DVD extras. Their transfers show no evidence of restoration, so quality varies from one title to the next, with "fair to good" being the average.



Related ALPHA item:

ALL OVER TOWN (1937) comes after "Country Gentlemen" and before "Hellzapoppin' in the O&J canon. Cast includes Franklin Pangborn and Jimmy Finlayson."