The Great Elmer and Company, two out-of-work magicians, help lovelorn Jerry Bronson adopt Spanky Milford, to distract him. When Bronson makes up and elopes, the pair are stuck with the little boy. But Spanky inherits a Kentucky fortune, so they head south to Banesville, where the Milfords and Wakefields are conducting a bitter feud.
Acting
Wheeler & Woolsey's rapid-fire vaudeville chemistry steals every scene.
Direction
Stevens already showing the comic timing that would shape Hollywood.
Practical Effects
Spanky's elaborate pratfalls—no CGI, just pure committed chaos.
Director
George Stevens
Bert Wheeler
Willie Doyle
Robert Woolsey
Elmer Dugan
Mary Carlisle
Gloria Wakefield
George McFarland
Spanky Milford
Noah Beery
Colonel Wakefield
Lucille La Verne
Aunt Hannah Milford
Willie Best
Buckshot (as Sleep 'n' Eat)
Margaret Dumont
Mrs. Baxter
Louis Mason
Judge Ezra Milford
Paul Page
Jerry Bronson
Frank McGlynn Jr.
Jeff Wakefield
Richard Alexander
Hank Wakefield
William Pawley
John Wakefield
Harry Bernard
Destitute Man (uncredited)
Edgar Dearing
Policeman (uncredited)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
This was George Stevens' second feature; he'd soon direct Fred Astaire and eventually win two Oscars for dramas like 'A Place in the Sun.'
The Hatfield-McCoy feud loomed large in 1930s pop culture—this film cashed in while treating mountain violence as harmless farce.
US
