Review of Whoopee!

This early talkie musical in two-strip Technicolor is notable mainly as the first film to be choreographed by Busby Berkeley having previously done his stuff on the stage. His technique is noticeable even here in his early work with both the overhead shot of the dancers (which wasn't entirely his invention as some other previous sound films have this but this was one he frequently used) and the way he gets close-ups of all the pretty girls' faces when the camera pans on each one of them during their dances. This was also Eddie Cantor's first feature in the sound era. I had laughed plenty when first watching this on a VHS tape that I used to record off AMC when they were doing one of their Film Preservation Festivals of which this was a part of and I still did when watching this just now on YouTube. Even his blackface bit wasn't too offensive since he doesn't do the stereotypical dialect and does the shuffle for satirical purposes like most of his jokes concerning the pop culture of the time. He and Ethel Shutta as his nurse make a fine comedy team here. The story of a half-breed in love with a white woman which involves the romantic leads reflects the prejudicial attitudes of the time especially when it's conveniently revealed at the end that the man was actually a white infant left on the reservation just so they can marry without disapproval from the bride's father. So that story did not appeal to me then nor now but since Cantor is front and center most of the time, he made most of the picture go down easier for me. Oh, and I always love when he's performing "Makin' Whoopee" so there's that...