See My Lawyer (1945)
Director:
Edward F. Cline (as Eddie Cline)
Writers:
Edmund L. Hartmann (screenplay), Stanley Davis (screenplay)
Stars:
Ole Olsen, Chic Johnson, Alan Curtis
Bearing little relation to the hit Broadway play on which it was based, See My Lawyer was the last and least of Olsen and Johnson's starring vehicles for Universal. The zany Hellzapoppin stars play a couple of nightclub entertainers who want to break their contract with proprietor R. J. Wagenhorn (Franklin Pangborn), but business is so good that Wagenhorn refuses. As a means to force Wagenhorn to let them out, and to simultaneously drum up business for a trio of struggling lawyers (Noah Beery Jr., Alan Curtis and Richard Benedict), O & J go on a comic rampage, insulting and humiliating nightclub customers left and right. As a result, Wagenhorn is slapped with 39 lawsuits, which he gleefully signs over to Olsen and Johnson as part of his contract-breaking deal. The boys manage to settle 38 of the lawsuits with a minimum of muss and fuss, but the last claimant, Otis Fillmore (Edward S. Brophy), intends to take the comedians for every penny they have. After a riotous courtroom trial, the judge moves the defendants, plaintiffs and jurors to the nightclub itself, vowing to render his decision as soon as he's seen the nightly floor show. This silly plot device is merely an excuse to showcase an unending stream of specialty acts, including the King Cole Trio (dressed as cooks!) Outside of a few good gags (Olsen & Johnson driving their car into a hotel lobby, Otis Fillmore swaying the jury by having his gray-haired mother provide testimony while accompanied by a violinist), See My Lawyer is a disappointment, affording Olsen & Johnson precious little screen time to perform their own special brand of comic lunacy.
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