Crazy House (1943 film)
Crazy House | |
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Video tape cover. | |
Directed by | Edward F. Cline |
Written by |
Robert Lees Frederic I. Rinaldo |
Starring |
Ole Olsen Chic Johnson Cass Daley |
Music by | George Hale |
Cinematography | Charles Van Enger |
Edited by | Arthur Hilton |
Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release dates |
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Running time | 80 min. |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Crazy House is a 1943 comedy film starring Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson as Broadway stars who return to Universal Studios to make another movie. The mere mention of Olsen and Johnson's names evacuates the studio and terrorizes the management and personnel. Undaunted, the comedians hire an assistant director and unknown talent, and set out to make their own movie. Financed by an eccentric "angel" (Percy Kilbride), the completed feature is set to premiere when angry creditors confiscate most of the film. Olsen and Johnson keep the preview going, anyway, and their venture is a success.
Crazy House is notable for its impressive cast of supporting comedians (Percy Kilbride, Cass Daley, Shemp Howard, Edgar Kennedy, Franklin Pangborn, Billy Gilbert, Richard Lane, Andrew Tombes, Chester Clute, and Hans Conried) and guest stars under contract to Universal at the time (Allan Jones, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce, Robert Paige, Leo Carrillo, Johnny Mack Brown, Andy Devine).
The Three Stooges
The film contains a trio of veteran Three Stooges alumni lead by Shemp Howard as "Mumbo." Fred Sanborn, who was the fourth Stooge in the team's debut feature Soup to Nuts, plays "Jumbo," with Frank Mitchell in the patsy role as "Dumbo." Mitchell was part of the Three Stooges team twice in his career; a brief tenure with Ted Healy in the early vaudeville days of the team, and again in the 70's taking over for an ailing Moe Howard (Mitchell was the only actor to ever officially replace Moe Howard as a Stooge).
Crazy House is the only appearance of this unofficial team of Stooges, and the only known footage of Frank Mitchell as a Stooge in any capacity.
Cast
- Ole Olsen as Himself
- Chic Johnson as Himself
- Cass Daley as Herself/Sadie Silverfish
- Martha O'Driscoll as Marjorie Nelson, alias Marjorie Wyndingham
- Patric Knowles as Edmund 'Mac' MacLean
- Percy Kilbride as Col. Cornelius Merriweather
- Hans Conried as Roco
- Leighton Noble as Himself
- Richard Lane as Hanley
- Thomas Gomez as N.G. Wagstaff
- Billy Gilbert as Sid Drake
- Edgar Kennedy as Judge
- Andrew Tombes as Horace L. Gregory
- Chester Clute as Fud
- Franklin Pangborn as Hotel clerk
- Shemp Howard as Mumbo
- Fred Sanborn as Jumbo
- Count Basie Orchestra with Jimmy Rushing and Thelma Carpenter
External links
- Crazy House at the American Film Institute Catalog
- Crazy House at the Internet Movie Database
- Crazy House at AllMovie