Back in 1933, Ernest Truex starred in "Whistling in the Dark" and it was a charming little comedy/mystery. Eight years later, the film was remade with Red Skelton and is the much more famous version of the story--though I prefer the original. Despite my preference, the Skelton film was so popular that it resulted in two sequels...first "Whistling in Dixie" and then "Whistling in Brooklyn".A series of murders have occurred and the police are baffled. However, when radio personality Wally Benton (Skelton) seems to know too many details about the killings, they assume he's the killer. Suddenly, cops are pouring out of the woodwork to arrest the guy. At first, he thinks that it's all a gag. After all, he and his fiancé (Ann Rutherford) are on their way to get married and his co- workers are always playing tricks on him. However, when he realizes they are firing REAL bullets, he and his girl and his idiot chauffeur are on the run. Soon, they are not just dodging the police but crooks as well and EVERYBODY seems to want to kill him.The best part of the film is towards the end, where Wally pretends to be a baseball player in order to alert the police who the real killer is. But he has to be disguised and sports a beard...and knows nothing about playing ball. But, miraculously, all the stupid things he does seem to work! Overall, enjoyable and pretty much more of the same for the short-lived franchise.

The third and final film in the "Whistling" series has the biggest, most elaborate production, but also the longest running time. There are some great stunts (the elevator sequence), some big laughs ("Get his gun....get his gun....get his gun....get his gun...."), and the by-now series-trademarked chaotic climactic fight, with scrappy Ann Rutherford helping The Fox quite a bit. But the baseball sequence, though it has its moments, is a little overextended, and the crime plot, after a promising start, gets spelled out to the audience rather too soon. "Rags" Ragland has been promoted to co-starring status here, while the secondary female role is filled by Jean Rogers, who is cute but can't match Virginia Grey from "Whistling In The Dark". **1/2 out of 4.

Well 'screwball comedy' doesn't even begin to define the territory this picture covers, with Red Skelton heading the cast as a radio detective personality inadvertently tagged as a murderer by his chauffeur cum press agent (Rags Ragland). I always enjoyed watching Red's variety shows as a kid, but this is the first movie I've ever seen him in, and it was a pretty good introduction. His comic timing is perfect, and it was cool seeing him do a quick tryout for a character he brought to his TV series by name of Clem Kadiddlehopper. That would have been right after the suitcase stuffing scene when he transforms his hat and face into a goofy caricature of himself.The film is so fast paced and frenetic that it's easy to forget where the whole thing started, but basically, Wally 'The Fox' Benton (Skelton) and his bride to be (Ann Rutherford) get sidetracked by a murder case involving a character who calls himself The Constant Reader. Chronicle newspaper reporter Jean Pringle (Jean Rogers) is hastily assigned to cover the case in progress, and instantly gets caught up in the shenanigans. Along with Rags Ragland, the quartet get involved in some fast paced hi-jinx, including an unbelievably staged elevator scene where the four of them form a human chain swinging for dear life. A little tense for a comedy but it works.As if there wasn't enough going on, the action makes it's way to Ebbetts Field and home of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who make an appearance by way of the starting lineup up to bat against Skelton's guise as pitcher Gumbatz of the Battling Beavers. The players, if not the names are virtually unrecognizable today - Billy Herman, Arky Vaughn, Ducky Medwick and Dolph Camilli batting cleanup, while manager Leo Durocher also gets some screen time trading barbs with Skelton. The Beavers were reminiscent of the barnstorming House of David team, with players sporting chest length beards as their signature look.It's almost anti-climactic that the cops finally get their man considering the mad-cap pace that winds up on a ship docked at a Brooklyn pier. The henchman with the high pressure hose on the boat looked an awful lot like Anthony Quinn, but a quick glance at the uncredited cast list reveals it was Mike Mazurki, former pro boxer and wrestler who got an awful lot of parts as a heavy in films during the era.All in all, an entertaining romp that Red Skelton fans should certainly enjoy, with a cast that does a pretty good job of keeping up with the film's manic direction and slapstick timing. To use Red's own words, they all 'dood it' very well.

The gags fly thick and fast in this, the last of Skelton's Whistling series for MGM. The pace is so hectic you may have to check your fast-forward. But the first half-hour is near hilarious with the usual Skelton mugging and pratfalls, backed up by experts Rags Ragland and Ann Rutherford, along with clever quips galore, so stay tuned. As usual, the plot amounts to little more than a convenient hat-rack on which to hang Skelton's usual brand of madcap. And what better fare for wartime audiences than a chance to escape the horrors with this slapstick whirlwind. I really did wonder how they would escape the elevator shaft, one of those great moments when you don't know whether to laugh or hide your eyes. And, yes, that is Jean Rogers as the reporter, on a break from Ming the Merciless and his serial effort at conquering the universe and Flash Gordon all in the same breath. There's also a chance to scope out Ebbetts Field and the Brooklyn Dodgers before both were torn down and shipped to LA. All in all, good period fun, even this many years later.