Truly Dreadful Film

Please don't spend money on this.

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

Andrew Stone produced, directed and wrote the story (which was adapted by Edmund Hartmann and Frederick Jackson) for this wartime screwball comedy featuring an Academy Award nominated Score by Phil Boutelje. Also notable is the appearance of Pola Negri in the cast; this was her first film in years and her last until her final role in The Moon-Spinners (1964). Adolphe Menjou, Martha Scott, Dennis O'Keefe, Billie Burke, Walter Kingsford, and Barton Hepburn play the other significant parts in the movie.The plot is pretty standard stuff for a screwball comedy: it relies on misunderstandings among some wealthy characters - like the always reliable ditz Burke - for its comic payoffs. Menjou plays his typical womanizer, even though he's married to Negri's character, an opera singer he'd charmed six months ago for her money. Paul Porcasi plays her impresario. Menjou's son Sonny (O'Keefe) is a chip off the old block, a sailor in the Navy with a girl in every port until he meets Martha Scott, who's playing a wealthy debutante that's Burke's daughter. O'Keefe's character insists that he's never been in love like this before, a line he uses several times with other women in the film's opening credits, which include cartoon character sequences, as does the film's final scene (of operatic composer Richard Wagner and his family at a picnic!).But as is often the case, Burke's character is really smarter than she looks or acts; she and Hepburn's character have schemed to test O'Keefe's love for her daughter Scott. Burke, a rich widow who socializes with a senator played by Kingsford, pretends to lose all her money to Hepburn, who's ostensibly interested in marrying Scott for himself, in order to see if O'Keefe still wants to marry her. Naturally, their love is stronger than such concerns but, with the prospect of having to support his would-be mother-in-law Burke, O'Keefe engages his "pretending to be wealthy" father Menjou, who's a somewhat impoverished kept man of Negri's, to solve this newly financial problem of his. Menjou's plan involves using a more powerful magnet at the 59 club's (owned by Georges Metaxa's character) crooked roulette table (operated by croupier Eddie Marr) to beat them at their own game. He gets assistance from a longtime associate who's currently the club's singer, June Havoc.There's another scam involving some phony gold mine stock (wasn't there any other type of enterprise that could be used in those days?) which inadvertently fools a real brokerage firm employee (Byron Foulger) and its owner (Richard Hageman). There's also a running joke whereby Lorraine Miller appears in almost every scene (walking her dog on the street, as a hatcheck girl, etc.), noticed by Menjou and eventually labeled a friend of this film's director by Burke. Several requisite false identity gags, who's married to whom etc., also transpire which, when combined with the aforementioned schemes, nearly prevent the newlyweds time from having any alone time. But thanks to the family's maid (Ellen Lowe), O'Keefe and Scott finally get some time to consummate their marriage before he has to ship off again.

This period in American movies saw such delights as "Hellzapoppin". Here the actors bring to attention that they are playing in a film. They make faces at the audience, wallpaper comes alive, there is a woman who keeps popping up in scenes where she isn't even acting. The dialog and the plot move lightning fast and there's no time at all to waste in this pleasant and often hilarious comedy. There's a wedding reception before the wedding, fortunes earned and lost in a space of minutes, a married couple disunited throughout. What's not to like? This film has been in public domain and has been copied, often badly and on stock of poor quality, so viewer beware...

Sonny Phyffe (Dennis O'Keefe), a sailor with a conquest in every port, is three hours late to his wedding to Janie Prescott (Martha Scott), whose mother is the very wealthy and scatterbrained Liza Prescott (Billie Burke). Liza harbors doubts about Sonny's sincerity. Sonny is anxious about the wedding because he only has two days ashore before he has to report back to his ship. But minutes before the wedding Mrs. Prescott confesses that she has lost her fortune, swindled out of it by a high society clot who is determined to wed Janie himself. But now that sly old scoundrel, Col. Hector Phyffe (Adolphe Menjou), who is Sonny's father, steps forward and says he'll put things right. All he needs is a few hours. The Colonel, however, is married to the opera diva Genya Smetana (Pola Negri). He hasn't a dime of his own. She keeps him on a short lease. He must do what he does best, come up with a series of improbable schemes and stratagems to replace Mrs. Prescott's fortune. All the while the clock is ticking. Will the Colonel somehow find a way to get back Liza Prescott's money? Will Liza with her ditzy behavior make things better or worse? Will Sonny and Janie work their way through this maze of mix-ups and into bed before Sonny has to leave? Will there at last be a consummation devoutly to be wished, especially by Sonny and Janie. If this sounds like screwball comedy, it tries hard to be and sometimes succeeds. Menjou keeps the wheels spinning. Burke's character may not be as flighty as Billie Burke. Pola Negri, a great silent star, at 49 is stunning. She could easily pass as Hedy Lamar's slightly older sister. June Havoc has a funny featured role and a couple of songs. What Hi Diddle Diddle really has going for it is a clever twist that is well disguised and two accomplished actors who were right at home with light comedy, Adolphe Menjou and Dennis O'Keefe. Menjou was never better than playing a man of the world who has seen all the tricks and mastered most of them himself. He moved from a major leading man in the silents (A Woman of Paris, 1923) to a master portrayer of amusing rogues, charlatans, fathers and lawyers. He was at his best as the shyster lawyer Billy Flynn in Roxie Hart, 1942. As an old man he still knew what he was doing. His portrayal of Mr. Pendergast, an irascible recluse in Pollyanna, 1960, is touching, amusing and believable. I doubt if there was ever a Hollywood leading man, other than Cary Grant, who was as good at light comedy as Dennis O'Keefe. He paid his dues in countless unbilled bits in the Thirties, moved up to second billings and then lead roles in the Forties and early Fifties, but was never able to establish himself in big A movies. He was a tall, handsome guy who could play puzzled bumpkins, tough G-men, doomed noir heroes and nice guys. If you have the time, watch him in these: As Jerry Manning in The Leopard Man, 1943; as Monty Brewster in Brewster's Millions, 1945; as Joe Sullivan in Raw Deal, 1948; as Sam Donovan in Cover Up, 1949; and as Danny Leggett in Woman on the Run, 1950.

HI DIDDLE DIDDLE is one of those pictures that, because it has fallen into public domain, is almost always seen in dreadful dupe prints. Well, don't let that dissuade you from seeing this picture. It is one of the fastest-paced, downright hilarious comedies of the early 40's. The combination of sharp dialogue and impeccable characterizations make this a real winner. Here is Dennis O'Keefe at his farceur best. He's a sailor-on-leave-bridegroom who spends his wedding night doing everything EXCEPT what he's supposed to be doing. Adolph Menjou is his pop, a conniver (not Connover this time!) who pledges to help Dennis' mom-in-law, dizzy Billie Burke, regain her fortune. Menjou is married to Pola Negri, a domineering Wagnerian opera singer. June Havoc is a lady friend of Menjou's and is she hot! They're all a riot. One of my favorite bits is when waiter Joe Devlin, taking Billie's order at a night club, does a double take and walks away. Billie exclaims - "He did a double take - just like in the movies!" Then Billie, Martha Scott (the bride), Walter Kingsford and Barton Hepburn all proceed to practice doing double takes. Devlin gets a gander at this and does - A DOUBLE TAKE! A wonderful musical moment is June Havoc singing alongside herself in a Panaogram Soundie machine. Composer Richard Hageman, who also appears in director Andrew Stone's SENSATIONS OF 1945, does a very wry bit as a brokerage firm president.If you need a laugh - see HI DIDDLE DIDDLE by any and all means!