Diplomaniacs
- April 29, 1933 (1933-04-29)[1]
Diplomaniacs is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film starring Wheeler and Woolsey. The film in noted for its absurdist political satire, somewhat in the manner of Million Dollar Legs or Duck Soup, both of which were released within a year of Diplomaniacs.
Plot
Willy Nilly (Bert Wheeler) and Hercules Glub (Robert Woolsey) are barbers with almost no customers: their shop is on an Indian reservation. The tribe pays them to represent the Indian Nation at a peace conference in Switzerland. Unbeknownst to them, several armaments manufacturers want to ensure that the peace conference is a failure, and do everything they can to sabotage it. Ringleader Winkelreid (Louis Calhern) hires Dolores and Fifi (Marjorie White and Phyllis Barry) to distract Willy and Hercules, and steal their secret documents. Willy and Hercules, unaware of the intrigue surrounding them, persist in carrying out their mission.
Cast
- Bert Wheeler as Willy Nilly
- Robert Woolsey as Hercules Glub
- Marjorie White as Dolores
- Phyllis Barry as Fifi
- Louis Calhern as Winkelreid
- Hugh Herbert as Wise Gai Chow-Chow, the Chinaman
- Edgar Kennedy as Chairman of the Peace Conference
- Richard Carle as Ship's Captain
- William Irving as Schmerzenpuppen
- Neely Edwards as Puppenschmerzen
- Billy Bletcher as Schmerzenschmerzen
- Teddy Hart as Puppenpuppen
- Edward Cooper as Indian Chief
- Dewey Robinson as Luke the Hermit
- Charles Coleman as Marie, Parisian butler
- Grace Hayle as Countess
- Charlie Hall as Shaffner, Winkelreid's valet
- Richard Alexander as Peace Conference Sergeant-at-Arms
Box office
Diplomaniacs was the first Wheeler & Woolsey comedy under the supervision of studio head Merian C. Cooper, who resolved to cut costs during the troubled Depression era. The team's recent comedies Hold 'Em Jail and Girl Crazy had cost $408,000 and $502,000, respectively, under previous studio head David O. Selznick; Cooper slashed the budget for Diplomaniacs to $242,000.[3] According to studio records, the film made a profit of $65,000.[2]
References
- ^ "Diplomaniacs: Technical Details". theiapolis.com. Archived from the original on April 9, 2014. Retrieved April 9, 2014.
- ^ a b c Richard B. Jewell, "RKO Film Grosses: 1931-1951", Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television, Vol. 14, No. 1, 1994, p. 56.
- ^ Richard B. Jewell with Vernon Harbin, The RKO Story, New York: Arlington House/Crown, 1982, pp. 60, 62.
External links
- Diplomaniacs at the AFI Catalog of Feature Films
- Diplomaniacs at IMDb
- v
- t
- e
- The Kentucky Colonel (1920)
- Eden and Return (1921)
- Hearts and Masks (1921)
- The Foolish Age (1921)
- Passing Through (1921)
- Boy Crazy (1922)
- Gay and Devilish (1922)
- Up and at 'Em (1922)
- When Love Comes (1922)
- The Understudy (1922)
- The Beautiful and Damned (1922)
- Little Church Around the Corner (1923)
- Daddies (1924)
- His Forgotten Wife (1924)
- The White Sin (1924)
- Listen Lester (1924)
- The Family Secret (1924)
- Helen's Babies (1924)
- The Fast Worker (1924)
- The Mad Whirl (1925)
- Dangerous Innocence (1925)
- The Teaser (1925)
- Where Was I? (1925)
- What Happened to Jones (1926)
- Skinner's Dress Suit (1926)
- Rolling Home (1926)
- Take It from Me (1926)
- The Cheerful Fraud (1927)
- The Small Bachelor (1927)
- Thanks for the Buggy Ride (1928)
- Good Morning, Judge (1928)
- Waterfront (1928)
- Outcast (1928)
- Why Be Good? (1929)
- Smiling Irish Eyes (1929)
- Footlights and Fools (1929)
- The Love Racket (1929)
- Strictly Modern (1930)
- Back Pay (1930)
- The Truth About Youth (1930)
- Sunny (1930)
- Going Wild (1930)
- Kiss Me Again (1931)
- Big Business Girl (1931)
- Too Many Cooks (1931)
- Caught Plastered (1931)
- Way Back Home (1931)
- Girl Crazy (1932)
- Young Bride (1932)
- Is My Face Red? (1932)
- Hot Saturday (1932)
- If I Had a Million (segment "The Three Marines", 1932)
- Hello, Everybody! (1933)
- Diplomaniacs (1933)
- Rafter Romance (1933)
- Chance at Heaven (1933)
- Sons of the Desert (1933)
- Love Birds (1934)
- We're Rich Again (1934)
- The Richest Girl in the World (1934)
- Roberta (1935)
- The Daring Young Man (1935)
- If You Could Only Cook (1935)
- The Case Against Mrs. Ames (1936)
- The Moon's Our Home (1936)
- Dimples (1936)
- Stowaway (1936)
- Life Begins in College (1937)
- This Is My Affair (1937)
- Sally, Irene and Mary (1938)
- Room Service (1938)
- Thanks for Everything (1938)
- Susannah of the Mounties (1939)
- Allegheny Uprising (1939)
- It's a Date (1940)
- Hired Wife (1940)
- Nice Girl? (1941)
- Appointment for Love (1941)
- Broadway (1942)
- You Were Never Lovelier (1942)
- Destroyer (1943)
- A Lady Takes a Chance (1943)
- Four Jills in a Jeep (1944)
- Belle of the Yukon (1944)
- The Affairs of Susan (1945)
- That Night with You (1945)
- Little Giant (1946)
- I'll Be Yours (1947)
- Up in Central Park (1948)
- One Touch of Venus (1948)
- Borderline (1950)
- Dear Brat (1951)
- The Lady Wants Mink (1953)
- Champ for a Day (1953)
- Make Haste to Live (1954)
![]() | This 1930s comedy film–related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- v
- t
- e