Start your Monday off with this…

July 14th, 2008 at 10:15am Will Pfeifer

Here’s one of the most amazing dance sequences ever captured on film. It’s from the 1941 musical/comedy HELLZAPOPPIN’, and I’ll wager you’ve never seen anything quite like it. How these amazing athletes didn’t kill themselves — and each other — performing these moves is a complete mystery, but my hat’s off to them, regardless.

Though this is probably the most memorable part of the movie, HELLZAPOPPIN’ is a pretty crazy film all the way through. Here’s the opening, which goes from Shemp Howard playing a projectionist to dancers falling into Hell to, well, you’ll have to see for yourself. It’s about 9 minutes long, but well worth the time.

Intrigued? The bad news is that due to some arcane rights issues, it’s never been released on DVD. Heck, it never even turns up on Turner Classic Movies. The good news is, if you’re really dying to see it, you might be able to find a copy here. (It’s where I got mine.)

Entry Filed under: videos, Comedy, Classic movies