Dixiana

Customer Reviews:

A very odd musical that grows on you.......2007-03-25

I had never seen the comedy team of Wheeler and Woolsey before I saw this movie, and at the very least they are an acquired taste. Apparently they were a successful Broadway act that made several movies together, all along the same style as this one. Wheeler plays the wide-eyed innocent to the more caustic Woolsey, whose comedy is very reminiscent of George Burns. "Dixiana" is basically a musical drama played out in the pre-Civil War south with comedy bits by Wheeler and Woolsey interspersed with the dramatic storyline. The problem is, this movie is just not big enough for the two of them. Wheeler and Woolsey's comedy really has nothing to do with the dramatic storyline, and the dramatic storyline is totally divorced from Wheeler and Woolsey's characters. It may be that scenes have been cut from this DVD version, since apparently at one point in time it has fallen into the public domain, but large parts of the dramatic storyline never get sewed up. For example, there is a scene where the villain says he had something to do with rigging a duel involving a relative of the hero of the dramatic storyline - and that's the last we ever hear of it. Also, somehow at the end the heroine, Dixiana, and her boyfriend are reunited, but there never is anything in the movie showing exactly how this was accomplished.

The music is pretty good, and the musical numbers have very lavish and in some cases unusual sets and costumes. The prime example is the opening number with Wheeler and Woolsey dressed up as dancing ostriches and Dixiana popping out of an egg to do her part of the musical number. Wheeler and Woolsey's comedy in this particular film falls flat by today's standards, but it is watchable enough. I'd say it's worth viewing just for the weirdness of it all.

Keep "Dixiana" Back in Dixie!.......2006-11-10

"Dixiana" is perhaps the worst Wheeler & Woolsey comedy I have ever seen. The good news is, because it is so bad, rarely will you have to sit down and watch a movie as bad.

"Dixiana" is one of your typical RKO lavish musicals with big costumes and sets, a somewhat pleasant musical score, and a mixture of romance/comedy/musical. But the film fails to live up to the standard other RKO pictures have set.

First of all, I'm not the biggest Wheeler & Woolsey fan in the world. I have however seen 14 of their films together. Why? I like to collect rare films and Wheeler & Woolsey films are rare. If I see one I don't like to pass up the opportunity of collecting them.

I don't think Wheeler and Woolsey were as funny as some of the other comedians and comedy teams of their era. I find I'm much more involved in the work of Chaplin, Keaton, Fields, Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers. This is not to say I'm incapable of enjoying one of their films. I am. I have seen a few that I really enjoyed.

"Dixiana" takes place in the old south and tells the story of Carl Van Horn (Everett Marshall, whose mustache looks like it is about to eat him alive) he has fallen in love with a circus performer, Dixiana (Bebe Daniels) and plans on marrying her, which will break up her act with two comics, Peewee (Bert Wheeler) and Ginger (Robert Woolsey). Carl's father and stepmother however do not know about Dixiana's past and his stepmother will not allow Carl to marry the women fearing it will ruin her chance of getting into society, especially since Carl's father Cornelius (Joseph Cawthon, who appeared in the much funnier Wheeler and Woolsey comedy "Peach-O-Reno") has just inherited his family's Southern planation.

One of the film's biggest mistakes is not allowing Wheeler and Woolsey room for their comedy, even though it is pretty dated with Woolsey's stale one-liners. But, it is my opinion, the best Wheeler and Woolsey films were the ones that didn't concentrate so much on the plot but gave the comedy team plenty of room to do their stuff, that would include "Diplomaniacs" (their best film and one of the funniest comedies of all time), "Peach-O-Reno" and "Hips, Hips, Hooray". "Dixiana" on the other hand take too much time away from the team and injects too much romance. Over half the film involves the love story going on between Dixiana and Carl. We've seen this situation before, especially in Marx Brother comedies made after "Duck Soup" and Laurel and Hardy films of the 40's. It usually upsets fans of the comedy teams because they are mainly there to serve as comic relief, but the comedians usually have all the best parts. And that's pretty much true in the case of this film as well. While I admit, the film as a whole isn't very funny, the film's best moments are when Wheeler and Woolsey are on-screen.

Some people also complain the film is racist. I thought only the film's beginning moments, including the title song sung over the opening credits, showcased a kind of racist humor, that no doubt was seen as harmless in the day. I don't think a large number of people though would find the film offensive, in less of course you find unfunny films offensive.

Dorothy Lee has a very minor, and useless part in the film as Nanny, a dancer in a gambling casino Wheeler and Woolsey find themselves working in. Lee makes her appearance 50 minutes into the film, and the movie is only 99 minutes to begin with! Her character provides nothing to the story at all, despite the fact that I usually like her. I will in all fairness say her first appearance in the film gives Wheeler and Woolsey perhaps their best routine in the film as each man tries to go up to her room without the other one knowing.

"Dixiana" was directed by Luther Reed, a studio director whom had directed Wheeler and Woolsey's first film, "Rio Rita". "Rita" in my opinion was not a great film either, it suffered from this film's same problem of having Wheeler and Woolsey as comic relief, but it is more watchable than "Dixiana". Reed also wrote the film but it was based on a story by Anne Caldwell, who served as a writing source for Wheeler and Woolsey's next film, "Half Shot at Sunrise" (another far better Wheeler and Woolsey comedy). I mention this because Reed and Caldwell have worked with the team before so I find it odd how badly things went here. "Dixiana" was the team's third film (coming behind, in order, "Rio Rita" and "The Cuckoos", the latter being the better of the three) and proves to be lackluster and boring at best.

Bottom-line: The stale humor of Wheeler and Woolsey mixed with some racist undertones of the ol' south make "Dixiana" better left unseen. The comedy team is reduced to comic relief (and they barely provide any relief) and is plagued by bad joke after bad joke. Perhaps their worst film.

I am your baby now..........2006-03-10

Recently at the Silent theatere in L.A. 30's style singer Janet Klein revived a song from Dixiana "I am Your Baby Now". In the film Bebe Daniles sings it, and she sings it after being carried on stage by two giant Ostriches, and she pops out of an egg, so sing it! Great performance. The film is funny and faetures soem great vaudevillians. A cute film with loads of charm, and a nice roamntic comedy. Although I must admid my favorite part of the film is Bebe singing in the egg!!!

Average customer rating:

Primitive but fun musical comedy
LIKE IT - HATE IT - COULDN'T CARE LESS - - -
A BOMB. Wheeler and Woolsey can be missed
Dixiana DVD is a Real Stunner
Mexico's finest performances

Dixiana/La Cucaracha
Starring: Steffi Duna , Don Alvarado , Paul Porcasi , Eduardo Durant , and Chris-Pin Martin
Director: Lloyd Corrigan , and Luther Reed
Manufacturer: ROAN
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B00003RQOK
Release Date: 2000-01-25

Description

The Classic 1930 Musical with Technicolor finale! Bebe Daniels, Wheeler & Woolsey, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson. 98 min. A circus performer falls in love with a Southern sophisticate / The first live-action 3-strip Technicolor film ever made. 20 min. 1930 - USA - 98 min - Color

Customer Reviews:

Primitive but fun musical comedy.......2004-02-17

Dixiana has been variously described as a 'dog', a 'prehistoric turkey', and worse before now (and that's from people who generally liked it and the people in it!). It's a clunky mix of operetta and vaudeville musical comedy which doesn't quite gel, but is typical of its period right at the dawn of the talking picture.

The DVD has been lovingly restored so even the two-strip colour sequence at the end looks pristine. In the cast, Bebe Daniels and Everett Marshall sing well enough - he wasn't a great actor, but never mind - and Wheeler and Woolsey, that talented pair of clowns from RKO's first decade, add their archaic brand of humour between the serious musical bits. Dixiana is far from their best but it is their only movie easily available, so it will have to do.

LIKE IT - HATE IT - COULDN'T CARE LESS - - -.......2003-07-12

I have no idea what the reviewer of the "Mexicos finest performers" is babbling about. The "La Cucaracha" presented together with "Dixiana" is a double lame short dance/guitar-tink-a-tanking extravaganza, notable merely for it's place on the Technicolor stairway to oblivion, and not a film about the Mexican revolution. "Dixiana" promises to be very cool as it starts - with the circus/vaudeville settings and so on, but we very soon realize it is an unpardonable mishmash. Bebe Daniels is quite good, but that's ALL!!! Even the Technicolor sequence (actually the whole last reel) I was looking forward to anxiously turned out to be a complete waste of good celluloid - one of the most idiotic dance routines ever choreographed with costumes ugly as a whore's dream and dance girls from hell (they are from the worst kennel). The flick itself is presented in a perfectly good condition, the sound and colours being top quality. Too bad the ones who made this miserable epic didn't put more into it. But at least this one pretty much explains why the musicals were out in the early thirties - too much BS was being turned out and hadn't B.Berksley saved the industry, God knows what might have been!

A BOMB. Wheeler and Woolsey can be missed.......2003-02-16

Wheeler and Woolsey supposedly saved the RKO studios in the early 30's, so I was interested in seeing what this early comedy team was all about. Well, what they were about is a very stale, crude, wooden vaudeville comedy duo act. Do NOT expect Burns and Allen. These two guys were awful. One guy is tall, wears glasses, and does nothing but pull a cigar in and out of his ugly mouth while he barks out the lamest lines you can imagine. The other guy is a short, somewhat wimpy/effeminate, guy with a whiny voice who doesn't do anything but stand close to the other guy. It was a pretty dismal routine. The film itself is of no interest to anyone but those obsessives who need to see it for the early technicolor sequence (wasted on a lame dance act and one of Bill Robinson's least inspired tap routines). The plot has something to do with plantations, freed slaves, music halls, practical jokes, searching for a bride, and dancing. I couldn't figure it out, but since it wasn't 'Showboat", I figured it wasn't worth trying to. I love old movies but this is scraping the very bottom of the lowest barrel.

Dixiana DVD is a Real Stunner.......2000-04-18

Not a classic by any means, the DVD release of DIXIANA allows us to view an early (1930) talkie musical in pristine picture and sound, suggesting how it must of appeared to audiences of that day. Best of all, the last couple of reels have been restored to their original two-strip Technicolor beauty.

Bebe Daniela is charming and proves that a silent screen star could effortlessly make the transition to talkies. The male lead is played by Metropolitian Opera star Everett Marshall who displays a fine singing voice but limited acting talent.

The real star of this DVD is the stunning picture and sound. The short subject, La Cucharacha, is a nice bonus. While not as sharp as the feature visually, the historic importance of this short compliments DIXIANA nicely. In all, a highly recommended DVD.

Mexico's finest performances.......2000-04-06

There are some who look at the Mexican revolution (1910-1920) as this dramatic and chivalrous moment in Mexican history which would bring land and "libertad" to the neglected masses. In reality the revolution destroyed families, led to the death of thousands and in the end changed very little as the heroes of the revolution didn't live to see their dream become reality. In "La Cucaracha", we experience the revolution from the eyes of Colonel Zeta (Emilio India Fernandez at his machista best), Isabel (Dolores del Rio), a widow who's professor husband is forced into service and La Cucaracha (Maria Felix), a soldadera who portrays one of the strongest female leads in a Mexican movie.

In Zeta we have perhaps one of the more powerful male figure trying desperately to keep the revolution going eventhough he has lost most of his men and people have lost interest in fighting. His demeanor is such that strikes fear into men. Zeta in turn is matched up against Maria Felix who is as his female counterpart, is a patriot to the revolution and to whom men hold allegiance to. A love triangle ensues between the two and Isabel. Midway through the movie we see that Zeta isn't really the brute that he has to be. The direction is swift, with some memorable battle conversation surrounding the merits of war. The music is of special note, with revolutionary ballads performed on camera by Cuco Sanchez and others. In a cameo performance there is a memorable performance by Pedro Armendariz. His cantina conversation with Zeta is a classic testosterone machista contra machista. Also appearing is Antonio Aguilar in one of his first roles as a young Capitan under General Carranza. During a dramatic moment he must chose his loyalty between Villa and Carranza. One interesting note, is that the director has chosen not to feature Villa at all. Although his presence is felt throughout the movie. Powerful peformances throughout, a must for fanatics of the above stars. The version I saw was not subtitled. There are so many good Mexican movies that arent seen because of this. A loss too many.

Average customer rating:
Dixiana

Manufacturer: Synergy Ent
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

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ASIN: B000VSSQKW
Release Date: 2007-09-06

amazon.com

A circus performer becomes the center of affections for two men in this RKO musical starring Bebe Daniels. Dixiana (Daniels) is loved by a plantation owner's son and she loves him but she is also coveted by a crooked gambler who also is looking to swindle the plantation away from the family. Add to this romantic triangle the comedic talents of Wheeler & Woolsey and the first time on screen performance of Bill "Bojangles" Robinson and you've got a winner.

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