"Cracked Nuts" is a B-movie from Universal which is chock full of famous supporting actors...making it a B with much more talent than usual. Imagine....Stu Erwin, William Frawley, Mischa Auer, Shemp Howard, Una Merkel, Will Wright and Mantan Moreland all crammed into the same film! This alone make the movie worth seeing for old movie buffs.
When the story begins, Larry (Erwin) wins a contest whose first prize is $5000....a huge amount for 1941 equal to the yearly salary of two people! However, Larry is a bit of a dunce and soon some con men descend upon him. In particular, Boris Kabikoff (Auer) with his fake robot (with Howard inside). Can Erwin spot the scam or is he destined to lose his brand new fortune from these slick characters?
The main story idea is pretty dopey. Add to that some VERY negative portrayals of black people (with Moreland shooting dice, being scared of ghosts and other crappy stereotypes of the day) and the film has some serious deficits. Overall, it's a film that could have been terrific and has its moments...but overall really isn't all that good.
When the story begins, Larry (Erwin) wins a contest whose first prize is $5000....a huge amount for 1941 equal to the yearly salary of two people! However, Larry is a bit of a dunce and soon some con men descend upon him. In particular, Boris Kabikoff (Auer) with his fake robot (with Howard inside). Can Erwin spot the scam or is he destined to lose his brand new fortune from these slick characters?
The main story idea is pretty dopey. Add to that some VERY negative portrayals of black people (with Moreland shooting dice, being scared of ghosts and other crappy stereotypes of the day) and the film has some serious deficits. Overall, it's a film that could have been terrific and has its moments...but overall really isn't all that good.