This hilarious and racy staged musical is correctly commented upon here as probably as close to a genuine Ziegfeld Broadway show of the 20s as any of us will ever see. In glorious two strip Technicolor too! A fore runner to GIRL CRAZY, HATS OFF, some ELVIS bumpkin re treads like STAY AWAY JOE or TICKLE ME and WHEN THEY BOYS MEET THE GIRLS (in itself a 60s remake of Girl Crazy)...WHOOPEE is by turns hilarious, gorgeous and utterly fascinating for a study of early talkie musicals. It also shows how Woody Allen mannerisms of the 60s with his nervous romantic stchik is not all new given Cantor's romance-tics here. I can watch the musical numbers over and over and find the STETSON HAT number with its excellent clunky tap dancing sound quite compelling. The SUNRISE FINALE is just jaw dropping with the most astonishing costumes draped over almost nude skinny showgirls. 200 eagles must have died in the feather department to create some of those outfits. Overall, the dance numbers have indicated just how modern this film truly is, not just for its time but even today, it just looks new: clothes, hairstyles and those fresh lovely faces. The haircuts on the boys are very much apparent today. One young cowboy in the early scenes of the STETSON number looks exactly like 80s actor Treat Williams (Noah Beery Jnr?), and the white jeans with the red berry patterns were revived as modern 90s. It is the pinnacle of the state of the art for the time and thoroughly hilarious in its risqué racist free pre code way.
