Hips, Hips, Hooray! is a 1934 American Pre-Code slapstick comedy starring Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Ruth Etting, Thelma Todd, and Dorothy Lee. The movie, as did numerous films of the era now considered classics, took advantage of the laxness of Hayes Code enforcement to present a bevy of starlets who seem to spend most of the their time in their underwear or revealing showgirl costumes.
The movie’s title sums up its contents: lots of hips (not to mention legs) and plenty of hooray in the form of Woolsey and Wheelers slapstick and witty comedy. The duo play wonderfully charming entrepreneurs constantly running from the police and too trouble.
There are too many Pre-Code moments to mention. Basically, there is so much blatant lingerie, dressing and undressing and suggestive nudity to make the devil blush.
The director never misses an opportunity to show some Pre-Code nudity, with nearly naked women – mostly in the form of secretaries in a bondage-style leather two piece – always moving in and out of shots. Another Pre-Code moment: Woolsey talks the assistant girls into trying on the flavored lipstick and letting them guess the flavor. They then take turns kissing all the girls until one spins him onto he knee and kisses him too passionately. He says disheveled: “Public enemy number 1.”
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