Oh, Sailor, Behave!
"The World's Funniest Clowns in the Year's Gayest Musical!"
Plot
In this pre-Code musical farce, American newspaper reporter Charlie Carroll travels to Venice on a high-stakes assignment to interview the elusive Romanian General Skulany. While navigating the Venetian canals, Charlie falls deeply in love with Nanette Dodge, a wealthy heiress whose personal life is complicated by a blackmail plot involving her sister and the villainous Prince Kasloff. To protect her family, Nanette attempts to seduce the Prince to retrieve incriminating letters, leading to a series of misunderstandings that threaten her romance with Charlie. Meanwhile, a pair of bumbling American sailors, Simon and Peter, provide slapstick relief as they hunt for a thief across Naples and Venice, eventually crossing paths with the main players. The plot culminates in a chaotic rescue attempt and a surprising political assassination that paves the way for a romantic resolution.
About the Production
The film was originally conceived and filmed as a lavish all-Technicolor musical production. However, by the time of its release in late 1930, public interest in musicals had plummeted so sharply that Warner Bros. made the last-minute decision to release it entirely in black and white to avoid the 'musical' stigma. This transition resulted in a disjointed final product where musical numbers felt shoehorned into a farce. The film was based on the 1929 Broadway play 'See Naples and Die' by Elmer Rice, but the script was heavily reworked to accommodate the vaudeville antics of Olsen and Johnson.
Historical Background
1930 was a pivotal year in Hollywood history, marking the end of the initial 'talkie' boom and the beginning of a severe public backlash against the musical genre. The Great Depression was beginning to take hold, and audiences were moving away from the escapist operettas of the late 1920s in favor of gritty gangster films and realistic dramas. 'Oh, Sailor, Behave!' stands as a primary example of a studio caught in this transition, attempting to pivot a high-budget musical into a comedy vehicle mid-production.
Why This Film Matters
While not a critical success, the film is significant for introducing Olsen and Johnson to cinema audiences. Their anarchic, 'breaking the fourth wall' style of comedy was a precursor to the surrealism found in later comedy troupes like Monty Python. Additionally, the film is a key artifact for film historians studying the 'lost' Technicolor era of the early 1930s and the rapid evolution of the Motion Picture Production Code.
Making Of
The production was a victim of shifting industry tides. Director Archie Mayo, known for his efficiency, had to balance the sophisticated wit of Elmer Rice's play with the lowbrow, chaotic energy of Olsen and Johnson. The duo was 'shoehorned' into the script to provide commercial appeal, but their scenes often felt like they belonged to a different movie entirely. The decision to scrap the Technicolor sequences was a financial blow, as the process was expensive, but Warner Bros. feared that a color musical would be 'box office poison' by August 1930. The film's soundtrack was recorded using the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, which required actors to stay relatively stationary near hidden microphones, contributing to the 'lumbering' feel of some scenes.
Visual Style
The film was shot by Devereaux Jennings. Because it was originally intended for Technicolor, the lighting is notably flat and bright, which was necessary for early color processes but looks somewhat harsh in the surviving black-and-white prints. The camera work is largely static, typical of early Vitaphone productions where the equipment was housed in soundproof 'icebox' booths.
Innovations
The film utilized the Vitaphone sound-on-disc system, which was nearing the end of its dominance. It is notable for its attempt to integrate large-scale musical numbers with a farcical plot, a technical challenge in the early days of synchronized sound.
Music
The score was composed by Al Dubin and Joe Burke. Key songs include 'When Love Comes in the Moonlight,' 'Highway to Heaven,' 'Leave a Little Smile,' 'The Laughing Song,' and 'Tell Us Which One Do You Love.' Charles King recorded several of these for Brunswick Records, though they failed to become hits.
Famous Quotes
Charlie Carroll: 'A fish may fight in broad daylight, but he makes love in the moonlight!'
Simon: 'I tell you, I'm positive! But you better prove it, I don't want to get in no trouble now!'
Memorable Scenes
- The 'Moonlight' musical number featuring Charles King and Irene Delroy, which showcases the era's romantic operetta style.
- Olsen and Johnson's 'cocktail making' routine, where they use increasingly absurd ingredients including 'poison ivy' (mint).
- The chaotic finale involving a political assassination that is treated with surprising levity for a musical comedy.
Did You Know?
- This film marked the screen debut of the legendary comedy duo Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson, who would later achieve immortality with 'Hellzapoppin'.
- Despite being based on a play by Pulitzer Prize-winner Elmer Rice, the film is often cited as one of the least faithful adaptations of his work.
- The character of Mitzi, played by Elise Bartlett, is listed in the opening credits but does not appear in the final cut of the film, suggesting significant post-production editing.
- Charles King, a major star of early talkie musicals like 'The Broadway Melody', effectively ended his film career after this movie due to the genre's decline.
- The film features a rare onscreen political assassination used as a plot device for a 'happy ending' in a musical comedy.
- The original stage play featured Claudette Colbert in the role that Irene Delroy plays in the film.
- Promotional materials for the film were printed in color, reflecting the studio's original plan to release it in Technicolor.
- The film was one of the first to be affected by the 1930 'musical backlash' which saw many studios stripping color and songs from their upcoming releases.
What Critics Said
At the time of release, critics were largely dismissive, with many finding the blend of Elmer Rice's sophisticated dialogue and Olsen and Johnson's slapstick to be jarring. Modern critics, such as those at PopMatters, describe it as 'zippy and lumbering at the same time,' noting its value as a surreal curiosity of the pre-Code era. It is often viewed today as a 'fascinating failure' that captures the chaos of early sound cinema.
What Audiences Thought
Initial audiences were largely indifferent, and the film failed to recoup its production costs. The 'musical fatigue' of 1930 meant that even the presence of popular vaudeville stars couldn't save it from being a box office disappointment. However, it found a small cult following decades later among fans of early sound-era oddities.
Film Connections
Influenced By
- See Naples and Die (Stage Play by Elmer Rice)
- The Love Parade (1929)
- Vaudeville tradition of the double-act
This Film Influenced
- Hellzapoppin' (1941)
- Fifty Million Frenchmen (1931)
- The Marx Brothers' comedies (in its use of anarchic humor)
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Film Restoration
The film survives intact and is preserved in the Turner Classic Movies library and the Library of Congress. While the original Technicolor footage is considered lost, the black-and-white release version is available. The complete soundtrack also survives on the original Vitaphone discs.