The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, September 04, 1981, Page Page 9, Image 9
'Under The R
By DOUG BELL
Staff Writer
"Under the Rainbow" deals, at a broad glance at least,
with a minor episode in Hollywood history: the midgets hired
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actually wreck a Los Angeles hotel.
But all the history in this film is contained in the dream of
^ Rollo Sweet (Cork Hubbert), a poor but hopeful young midget
from Kansas. This accounts for all the throbbing historical
inaccuracies ? Rollo was not there and so should not be
expected to dream a true account ? but does not justify a
slack, cliche-ridden script or the cheap, demeaning manner
in which the midgets are observed.
In its story development, "Under the Rainbow" draws
from its parent film, "The Wizard of Oz." It begins in drab,
overcast Kansas during the Depression. Rollo, like Dorothy,
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dreams of a bright fantasy world (in his case, Hollywood) to
which he longs to escape. Also, he receives a blow on the head
that plunges him into a wild dream, and that dream is the
central story of the film.
Though confusing to relate, the inner "dream" story is a
simple and tiring exercise in irony. Hitler's midget emissary
(Billy Barty) is sent to transfer a secret map to a Japanese
agent posing as a photographer at a Hollywood hotel. But this
easy transfer becomes impossible with the arrival of the
other guests, who include 150 midgets from the "Oz" set and
a convention of Japanese photographers. Also visiting the
hotel are an exiled Duke and Duchess (Joseph Maher and
Eve Arden) who are fleeing an assassin under the protection
of an inept secret service man (Chevy Chase).
THE SCRIPTWRITERS obviously intended to draw big
laughs from the interplay of such eccentric characters: the
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priceless map falls into Carrie Fisher's hands (Carrie is in
charge of the munchkins) and the little Nazi goes to
dangerous pains to retrieve it, the bumbling Duke dons
foolish false noses and other worn-out disguises to avoid the
assassin, Chase and scantily-clad Fisher get locked into a
meat refrigerator, and all of this is against a backdrop of
naughty midgets swinging from chandeliers, throwing
bathroom tissue and running between the hotel manager's
legs. It is all monotonously predictable, abundant in cheap
midget humor, but woefully short on laughs.
Don't make the mistake of believing any of this movie. You
couldn't find a more fabricated version of old Hollywood or
the "Oz" story anywhere (for that real and truly funny story
I refer you to Aljean Harmetz's "The Making of The Wizard
of Oz"). When Rollo finally wakes up, a la Dorothy, the
errors can be understood and at least partially forgiven. But
what I cannot forgive is a comedy that isn't funny.
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