Hold 'Em Jail (1932) User Reviews (8)

Wheeler & Woolsey take a stab at the football movie...

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 10 November 2015]

In the 1930s, football comedies were pretty common. The Marx Brothers made their brilliant "Horsefeathers" and the Three Stooges and Joe E. Brown also took a stab at the genre--not to mention all the cartoons about the subject. So it's not at all surprising that Wheeler & Woolsey would make a football film...though the locale for this game is pretty unique!! This film is about a football game...in prison! So is it any good? Well, for Wheeler & Woolsey it is.

So how do Wheeler & Woolsey end up in jail anyway? Well, they have some fake guns that look very realistic...and a crook switches them with the real thing. The boys are naturally arrested and end up in prison-- where the warden (Edgar Kennedy) and his family (Edna May Oliver and Betty Grable) are on hand for laughs. The film is VERY unusual because there are no song and dance numbers and the big football game at the end is about as stupid and nonsensical as most football games in 1930s comedies! None of it is brilliant or will make you prefer it to "Horsefeathers" but it is harmless and entertaining.

Wheeler and Woolsey are definitely an acquired taste

[AlsExGal · 5/10 · 11 February 2023]

In this Wheeler & Woolsey comedy from RKO and director Norman Taurog, the duo play novelty salesmen who get sent to prison just in time to participate in the big inter-prison football match. But before game day arrives, they cause all sorts of mayhem, especially for the harried warden (Edgar Kennedy). Also featuring Edna May Oliver, Betty Grable, Robert Armstrong, Paul Hurst, Roscoe Ates, Warren Hymer, G. Pat Collins, Jed Prouty, Spencer Charters, Jim Thorpe, and Ward Bond.

There are a few cute moments in this, but not enough. I enjoyed Hymer's role as a dim-witted convict always trying and failing to escape. Oliver is always good, but seeing Grable as a pseudo love interest for Wheeler was a tad uncomfortable, seeing as he was 37 and she was 15 at the time. The title was apparently a play on "Hold 'Em, Yale", a well-known college football chant. I guess I at least learned something new.

Prison/football parody ain't no "The Big House" or even "Good News" but does provide some amusement.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 15 August 2014]

This will be of particular historical interest because a very young Betty Grable takes Dorothy Lee's place as the love interest of Bert Wheeler, framed for sticking up a society party along with his pal Robert Woolsey and sent to prison. Having just tried to sell some wacky novelties to Grable's warden pop Edgar Kennedy, the boys don't find themselves exactly welcome, especially when they knock the shackles of a prisoner who made an escape attempt that the duo accidentally nixed. In an odd twist, Wheeler and Woolsey end up football heroes as a part of the rivalry between Kennedy and the warden of another prison which results in a slapstick football game finale that utilizes some tricks seen in other Wheeler and Woolsey films later on.

Grable, obviously much younger than Wheeler, isn't billed in the main titles until the entire casts names are shown, but she gets a lot to do in the first of two films she made with the comedy duo. The top female billing goes to Edna May Oliver in the last of the three films she made with them, playing Kennedy's seemingly prim sister who is at first prickly towards Woolsey because of comments he makes about her looks. Unlike Margaret Dumont, however, with Groucho, Edna May can give as good as she gets, and she gets plenty of great lines in as well, especially at the expense of slow-burning brother Kennedy. What Oliver lacks in physical beauty she makes up in screen charisma, and here gets to do a little bit of sniffing with Woolsey at her side, sniffing just as much.

The football game finale is silly but has some very funny moments and to even imagine the two of them as gridirons is ridiculously funny. The comic highlight is Wheeler and Woolsey trying to sell Kennedy their various gags which includes the "finger locker" and a balloon that almost seems like something out of the Little Rascals. Most people will turn into see the very young Grable, but may come out of it with an appreciation for their wacky, innocent comedy, and the scene-stealing of the delightful pickle-pussed Oliver.

Fine W&W Vehicle

[lzf0 · 7 December 2001]

This film really displays the differences in style between Wheeler and Woolsey and Laurel and Hardy. In "Pardon Us", Stan and Oliver are sent to prison, and in every situation where they try to be helpful, they end up with the short end of the stick. When Bert and Bob are sent to prison, they end up running the place after a short time. Wheeler and Woolsey certainly did not possess Stan Laurel's comic genius, but they are optimistic and make us feel that the underdog can triumph. We do not sympathize with Bert and Bob the way we do with Stan and Oliver. Bert and Bob are too arrogant and too aggressive for our sympathy, but we do get a special delight in seeing them triumph.

Edgar Kennedy is very funny as the warden and teen-age Betty Grable is as cute as can be as the warden's daughter. The football sequence is not as funny as the Marx Brothers' "Horse Feathers", but it is amusing. Edna May Oliver and Roscoe Ates add their brands of insanity to the mixture. I only wish there were some musical numbers to spotlight the abilities of Bert, Bob, and Betty Grable. For low comedy fans, this film is certainly worth viewing.

another Wheeler & Woolsey

[ksf-2 · 7/10 · 6 May 2021]

When the warden needs a couple bigger, better players for his football team, he recruits Harris and Robbins (Wheeler and Woolsey). They are tricked into committing a crime, and hauled into jail ! It starts pretty slow and awkward... Peach O Reno was so much better! Wheeler and Woolsey had started in vaudeville, and made two dozen films together. This one was about halfway through the list. Edna Oliver is in here as the straight laced aunty. And a very YOUNG Betty Grable, in one of her earlier roles. A couple of the bits they do are like three-stooges bits. Lots of slapstick, physical comedy. All leading up to the big football game. This one is pretty good. Some funny bits along the way. Directed by Norman Taurog, who had just won the oscar for Skippy. The beautiful Betty G will die young at 56, but she was amazing in How to Marry a Millionaire.. catch that one for sure.

Satirizing Two Genres

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 3 September 2008]

Hold 'Em Jail finds Wheeler&Woolsey neatly framed and sent to prison for something they didn't do. Never mind though, they make jail seem like fun, except for all around them.

Though Bert and Bob have the spotlight and do their usual monkeyshines, what I like best about Hold 'Em Jail is the incredibly good cast that RKO and director Norman Taurog assembled in support of them. When you've got such scene stealers as warden Edgar Kennedy and his wife Edna May Oliver and convicts like Paul Hurst and Warren Hymer doing their usual thing, Wheeler&Woolsey would have been hard pressed to keep up. Pay close attention to Edgar Kennedy in his scenes with the boys, he really makes them work.

I also liked the fact that the script got Bert and Bob to star on the prison football team giving the film a great opportunity to satirize two genres, prison films and college rah-rah football games. Edgar Kennedy has a $1000.00 bet with the warden of another prison team and he's depending on these two to win it for him. The football game at the climax is even funnier than what the Marx Brothers did in Horsefeathers.

Betty Grable is also in Hold 'Em Jail as Kennedy and Oliver's daughter if you can believe she sprung from that gene pool. She would have an decade long climb to top box office in the Forties as America's girl next door with the million dollar legs. Robert Armstrong also has a nice bit as the radio announcer of the inter prison football game.

This is one of Wheeler&Woolsey's best films and holds up very well for today's audience.

Hold 'Em Jail was a hilarious Wheeler & Woolsey flick with Edgar Kennedy

[tavm · 8/10 · 29 June 2019]

This Wheeler & Woolsey comedy reteams them with Edna May Oliver from Cracked Nuts. This time, she's the love interest of Woolsey. Instead of Dorothy Lee, Betty Grable-not quite a star during this period-is Wheeler's love interest. Also appearing is the slow-burn comic Edgar Kennedy who's quite a riot whenever he's with Bert & Robert. In this one, they are arrested when their water pistols are switched with real ones. Since the prison they go to has a football game, they end up participating. I'll stop there and just say I found most of the proceedings hilarious! So on that note, I highly recommend Hold 'Em Jail.

Nice Mix of Prison and Football

[Michael_Elliott · 28 April 2016]

Hold 'Em Jail (1932)

*** (out of 4)

Curley (Bert Wheeler) and Spider (Robert Woolsey) are framed for a crime and thrown into prison where they are constantly annoying the warden (Edgar Kennedy). The warden eventually needs to two on their football team as the prison goes up against a rival.

HOLD 'EM JAIL isn't going to make you fall in love with Wheeler & Woolsey if you're not already a fan but if you do enjoy their films then you'll probably enjoy this because there are some nice laughs along the way. At just 66 minutes the film is quite fast-paced and it's rather fun seeing them spoof not only the prison sub-genre but also the football one. Football and prison played a big part in films from this era so obviously RKO was wanting to take their duo and smash both of them.

There are several funny scenes scattered throughout the film but one of the highlights has to be the football game where chloroform is used to give the team an advantage. Another funny moment happens early on when Wheeler and Woolsey are framed and not realizing that they are using real guns on their robbery prank. Both Wheeler and Woolsey are at the top of their game and really help sell the laughs. The supporting cast includes a good turn by Kennedy as the warden as well as Edna May Oliver, Roscoe Ates and Robert Armstrong.