So This Is Africa (1933) User Reviews (8)

hacked but funny Wheeler and Woolsey

[didi-5 · 6/10 · 19 April 2006]

Originally filmed at some 90 minutes, Wheeler and Woolsey's only film at Columbia was chopped at the insistence of the censors and never re-released until its emergence on TCM some sixty-odd years later.

Wilbur and Alexander are failed lion tamers, who have a small tribe of toothless tame lions they won in a raffle. These lions are of great interest to a film company who need a film about Africa. So, the hapless two and their animals go on safari, alongside the oversexed Mrs Martini.

The jokes are fairly thick and fast in this 65 minute print, which includes a passionate female Tarzan, a huge group of Amazons, a foot-licking bear, a gorilla called Josephine, and a couple of musical numbers (one spoofing Minnie the Moocher).

Although usual cutie Dorothy Lee is missing, Raquel Torres and Esther Muir do well as the love interests for the boys, and Wheeler and Woolsey themselves are on fairly good form.

The 64 minute version is almost completely absent a plot

[AlsExGal · 6/10 · 25 June 2023]

The original film was 90 minutes long, but even in the precode era the Motion Picture Division of the Education Board of New York State found 26 minutes of the film unsuitable for audiences and thus these scenes and lines were cut. What's left is largely incoherent yet funny.

As for the plot, Ultimate Pictures has sent the director Mrs. Johnson-Martini to Africa to make a film, but she returns empty-handed because she is afraid of animals. The company finds out about Wilbur (Bert Wheeler) and Alexander (Robert Woolsey) and their tame toothless lions and decide to hire them to go to Africa with Mrs. Johnson-Martini and make the movie using these tame animals.

When they all get to Africa the plot about making a movie as well as the lions simply disappears and there are just a series of skits and dance numbers involving a tribe of women warriors who, at night, love any men they come in contact to death. It's daytime, but an eclipse occurs and Wilbur and Alexander are trapped with the women when they turn wildly amorous. Complications ensue.

According to Wikipedia - "The character of "Mrs. Johnson Martini" is a play on the real-life celebrity of the era Osa Johnson, generally referred to publicly at that time as Mrs. Martin Johnson. In collaboration with her husband, Johnson was a well-known documentary filmmaker. At the time So This Is Africa was issued, Johnson and her husband had just returned from a two-year stint in Africa and had released the documentary film Congor."

Meet Miss More!

[gridoon2024 · 6/10 · 8 April 2013]

I have read quite a bit about the history behind "So This Is Africa" and how the censors cut out large portions of the movie before allowing it to be shown. One article goes so far as to claim that it's the second most notorious Pre-Code comedy after the lost "Convention City". And yes, it does live up to its reputation. The version I saw ran 65 minutes and I think it's the longest in existence, though many of the cuts are visible - some of the scenes have been chopped up with an axe. The first half, which takes place in the city, is innocent enough, but then the action moves to the African jungle, and after a few obligatory animal-related gags, there is hardly a joke or a situation in this movie that does not revolve around sex: the two women, Esther Muir and Raquel Torres (there are some old photos on the net of her using exercise equipment, and here you can clearly see the results!) are sensuous and insatiably horny, and Wheeler and Woolsey cannot wait to be "loved to death" by a tribe of scantily clad Amazons. And what happens to them at the end might just make your jaw drop. "So This Is Africa" is not a great comedy (for one thing, it has virtually no story), but in terms of sheer craziness it's probably up there with anything the Marx Brothers did, and in terms of boldness it's at least three decades ahead of its time. If you think old movie comedy is always classy and kid-friendly, think again! **1/2 out of 4.

Wheeler and Woolsey's most notorious film

[cellorey · 9/10 · 10 June 2001]

This is another classic in Wheeler and Woolsey's long line of slapstick films. However, it is one of the more difficult ones to obtain a copy of. I managed to get the non-TV print (which is 54 minutes) and mine runs 65 minutes. The story, or better, the excuse for their burlesque humor is pretty weak this time. Wheeler and Woolsey play out of work vaudeville performers who are at the end of the line. Their only income stems from their exploitation of several large lions (don't ask). For some reason, they are invited to film an epic African movie on location, and this is officially where the story ends and the sexual double entendres enter. Dorothy Lee is missed, but Raquel Torres (from DUCK SOUP) is pretty good playing a female type of Tarzan. My favorite scenes are where Wheeler and Woolsey encounter a bear in Africa, and the very strange all-female tribe of "Africans." For Wheeler and Woolsey fans, this ranks very high on the must-see list. Also, I think this is their only film not produced by RKO, instead being done at Columbia Pictures.

There's a reason Wheeler and Woolsey aren't known these days!

[1930s_Time_Machine · 1/10 · 1 March 2023]

Apparently the censors removed twenty minutes of this garbage before releasing it - a shame they didn't burn the rest of it as well.

Americans of the thirties seemed quite sophisticated at times. They had some fantastic clever comedy and also some hilarious slapstick .....and inexplicably, Wheeler and Woolsey.

I thought at first that maybe I found this inane and dull because I wasn't familiar with this duo but quickly realized that I was wrong - it was actually because this was inane and dull. Unfamiliarity was not the reason - I wasn't familiar at all with Eddie Cantor pictures until very recently either but when I saw was ROMAN SCANDALS I immediately thought was fabulous. OK, I subsequently discovered that his pictures are not all as good but I can promise that I will never, never, never want to know what any of the other Wheeler and Woolsey films are like.

Some critics cite this trash as one of this duo's better (and funny) films. God knows what the worse ones are like! Some critics say that these two are similar to the Marx Brothers - such a comparison is ridiculous and to my mind, insulting to Messrs Marx. Some critics say that this film is a very racy and full of pre-code sauciness. These people are obviously deluded - this is as racy as watching a lettuce eating contest between two geriatric tortoises. OK, Raquel Torres dances a bit in an animal skin bikini but simply wearing a massive bikini is not what I'd call racy.....she's no Maureen O'Sullivan!

Wild and wacky farce, a pre-cursor to the Airplane & Naked Gun Comedies of years later....

[mark.waltz · 8/10 · 18 July 2012]

On a break from RKO while renegotiating their contract, Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey headed to Columbia where they starred in their wackiest and definitely most censorship unfriendly film. Like the later "Hollywood Party" spoof of "Tarzan" as "Scharzan", "So This is Africa!" is a tale of Hollywood producers making a jungle movie and the wacky adventures they find there. In this case, they are down on their luck vaudevillians who go there with adventuress Esther Muir playing a spoof of Mrs. Martin Johnson (who is ironically afraid of animals), the real-life wife of an African explorer who had made a film about their time in Africa. A sleep-walking Wheeler encounters a female version of Tarzan (Raquel Torres) who lives in a tree and swings on a very unique looking vine.

They befriend a really friendly gorilla (Torres's roommate) then encounter a group of Amazon women who like to love their men "to death" as Muir warns the boys. Desperate to escape a fate truly worse than death, Wheeler and Woolsey dress up as Amazon women themselves. Then, a group of Amazon men, back from war, march in searching for wives. What's a man in drag to do? This is definitely the ultimate in pre-code comedy, what with innuendos between the boys and Muir as well as a hint of homosexuality as well with the final scene. It's never blatantly dirty, more subtle like the best of burlesque. Wheeler has to deal with the appearance of a bear outside his tent (funny considering bears don't come from Africa), while earlier the two had dealt with a very feisty mule with a personality all its own.

Among the funniest scenes is a mind-reading routine where the dialog seems much more modern than its depression era setting. The humor is like nothing else that Wheeler and Woolsey ever did in films at RKO. Its no wonder that the film was out of circulation for years; Today, the deadpan humor comes off a lot tamer but still raises eyebrows. The film has a musical sequence that is no less strange than "Just Imagine", a 1930 Fox musical with Martian girls dancing all over a giant idol. It is a true shame that the 20 minutes cut from the original release can't be found. Some of the laughs are guaranteed to induce tears. The final moment is simply classic.

Woolsey woos the blonde...and Wheeler!!

[planktonrules · 8/10 · 25 November 2016]

I've seen most of Wheeler and Woolsey's films and must say "So This is Africa" is their weirdest and nuttiest movie. It's their only venture away from RKO and it makes you wish they'd done more films for Columbia because it's that wacky!!

The first portion of the film is rather conventional by the team's standards. The boys are stuck unable to pay their hotel bill and without jobs...and they're also stuck with five full-grown but friendly lions they won in a raffle! I am shocked Wheeler and Woolsey agreed to act with the lions as it looked very dangerous...and stupid!

After spending much of the film doing nothing in particular, a film director (Berton Churchill) catches up to them and offers them a job. He wants the boys to bring their lions to Africa for a Tarzan- type film. However, soon after arriving in the jungle, all pretense about making a movie is gone. Mostly it consist of the comely Mrs. Johnson-Martini pitching woo with Woolsey and Woolsey inexplicably playing very hard to get! During all this nonsense, Wheeler is rescued by Tarzana and this jungle heroine is really attracted to him. But before either has a chance to make whoopee, they are captured by Amazon women (in Africa?) and then the men arrive and there's a free-for- all and the strangest endings I can recall having seen which seems to be promoting gay marriage...as did the scene where Woolsey was about to marry Wheeler!! It's all VERY pre-code and very strange...and I am not sure how audiences of the day took to this and all the stronger than usual sexual innuendo as well as a bit of cursing. Strange beyond belief but also funny and much better paced than most films by the team.

My favorite Wheeler & Woolsey movie. (And I have them all.)

[rlymzv · 10/10 · 31 May 2021]

My favorite Wheeler & Woolsey movie. (And I have them all.)

Is it in bad taste? Oh yes. Does it make any sense? Less than you'd think. Is it any good? YES!

The best part of the movie is where Wheeler meets 'Tarzana' (Raquel Torres). You might think the perfect woman is a 25 year old Sophia Loren, Barbara Eden or Marjorie Weaver. Wait to you meet the sexy 'Tarzana' she's 23 years old and never been kissed. Upon discovering kissing it's all she wants to do, and is Wheeler happy to oblige.

The duo then encounters a tribe of all female Amazons whose traditions include 'loving' men to death, but the men are not afraid. So This is Africa was a 90-minute film, cut down to 65 minutes by censors. Don't be so shocked, Disney and other studios continue to censor movies today. I would pay real money to see the original 90 minutes. So This is Africa is one of the most-heavily censored films of the pre-Code era. The National Board of Review memos include comments like "Nothing as salacious has ever come before the National Board in the eight years of my reviewing", "Absolutely nothing to recommend it", and "The Board would harm itself it were to pass such a picture."

Shockingly, there's never been an official release of this movie on DVD by Columbia. The film is currently owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment. The film has been shown on Turner Classic Movies in the past, and can be found elsewhere.