Whistling in Dixie (1942)

Less than enthusiastic 1942 Red Skelton vehicle where he stars as a radio sleuth who goes with his girlfriend down south to get married, and instead both get caught up in a supposed murder mystery.Rags Ragland steals the film playing twin brothers- a chauffeur and convicted killer who escapes and is constantly confusing Skelton in the resulting mayhem that ensues.3 years after Gone With the Wind, Ann Rutherford is reduced to playing his girlfriend, literally up to her neck in adventure.Trouble is that in this less than 75 minute film, the real killers are identified and all concerned are trapped below with water sprouting as they are slowly drowning. Of course, they have to find a way out of their dilemma. The picture couldn't really find a way out of its dilemma, unfortunately.

A year before, Red Skelton made a remake to the dandy 1930s film "Whistling in the Dark". It was very popular and not surprisingly, he came back a year later in "Whistling in Dixie"--a sequel to a remake. While the continuity is great (as many of the same characters returned and the film logically follows the first one), there are a few stupid aspects of the sequel that make it less than endearing. For example, Rags Raglan returns...as the identical twin to the baddie sent to prison when the first film ended. That's great...but having the bad twin then return and everyone mixing them up was not only contrived but rather tiresome as well. Additionally, Red Skelton really mugged it up from time to time and was, at times, a tad annoying. Perhaps I'm being hard on the film, but I loved Skelton's later films--they were sweet and endearing. This one is a bit tired and only mildly interesting.

Red Skelton played the radio sleuth known as "the Fox" in three comic mysteries of the early 1940s. All had the word "whistling" in the title.This is the second of the three, and by far the weakest.The first one, "Whistling in the Dark," was an excellent remake of the 1933 film of the same. The last one, "Whistling in Brooklyn," was an extremely enjoyable farce. I recommend both."Whistling in Dixie" can be funny at times, but too often it's boring. I suspect it was made simply because the title seemed irresistible. The phrase "whistling 'Dixie' " was popular American slang at the time. And Ann Rutherford, who co-starred as the Fox's love interest in all three movies, was best known for her role in a Southern epic, "Gone With the Wind."This movie is full of corny "Southern" dialog, and there are some dated portrayals of African-Americans. Nothing here is any more more offensive than what you'd find in the typical 1940s film about the segregated South. But gosh, this kind of stuff was tired even then. Skelton's slapstick routines are weaker than usual. He and Rags Ragland, his sidekick and foil in all three "Whistling" films, work very hard, but some of the material falls flat.If this movie leaves you cold, don't rush to judgment. You may like the other two "Whistling" entries, because they are much better. And if you love this one, you will definitely want to see the other two.

Although the slapstick is pretty heavy at times, especially toward the wild climactic scene that winds up the whole story, WHISTLING IN DIXIE has all the ingredients that made the Bob Hope films successful in the '40s, with Hope as the cowardly male lead being intimidated by gangster-type bullies.Here it's RED SKELTON who seems to have inherited Hope's gag writers, because all of the jokes could just as well have been hand-me-downs from Hope during his heyday. Skelton plays "The Fox", a radio sleuth who solves impossible crimes, and is lured to Georgia by his girlfriend when one of her friends is in a dire situation requiring the kind of help "The Fox" can offer.Lots of fun ensues when Skelton arrives at a spooky Georgian mansion, and some of the sight gags involving RAGS RAGLAND (in a twin role--one good, one bad), are quite funny although they tend to be overdone by the time the last reel is reached.ANN RUTHERFORD has a flair for light comedy that makes her a good mate for Skelton and the rest of the cast goes along with the gags and pratfalls in a professional manner. DIANA LEWIS lays on the Southern accent a little too thick, but this is probably for comedy effect. GEORGE BANCROFT, GUY KIBBEE and PETER WHITNEY have fun with good supporting roles.Summing up: Good fun, if you like these sort of slapstick murder mysteries.