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.
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.