AllMovie

While Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey's first starring vehicle probably isn't the best introduction to their brand of manic sarcasm (look to Cockeyed Cavaliers or Hip, Hips, Hooray! for that), it still has loads of very funny moments. Wheeler and Woolsey are clearly still making the transition from vaudeville to film comedy and their approach is at times a little too broad; nevertheless, certain scenes -- when they're pretending to be waiters at a fancy restaurant, or Woolsey's dance through a fountain in his underwear, for example -- are memorably hilarious. As the colonel's saucy daughter, Dorothy Lee does her usual good work, and Edna May Oliver, as her imposing mother, steals the show from just about everyone except the two leads (this was the first of three memorable appearances by Oliver in Wheeler and Woolsey films). Surprisingly, one of the best scenes is played (mostly) straight -- at the front, when a concerned Woolsey risks explosions and gunfire to rescue Wheeler. Up until then, these two seem so wacky and carefree that the depth of their friendship in this scene gives pause (even though it ends with a big laugh). But that depth adds dimension to the film -- and to Wheeler and Woolsey. A comedy team is only as good as its bond, and this scene firmly establishes it for this duo. Incidentally, many of the film's fine gags were contributed by an uncredited Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle, whose career was still suffering because of the scandal that ruined him almost nine years before.