The Cock-Eyed World

Two pugnacious Marines and their problems with the opposite sex. Flagg: Victor McLaglen. Quirt: Edmund Lowe. Elenita: Lily Damita. Olson: El Brendel. Olga: Lelia Karnelly. Connors: Bob Burns. Buckley: Stuart Erwin. Includes many songs from World War I., This sequel to the enormously successful silent film What Price Glory reunites director Raoul Walsh with stars Victor McLaglen and Edmund Lowe. As in the earlier film, McLaglen and Lowe are cast respectively as Flagg and Quirt, those ever-brawling U.S. Marine sergeants. With WWI but a dim memory, Flagg and Quirt continue their rowdy escapades in Russia, Nicaragua and Coney Island. And, of course, they vie for the attentions of several eager and willing young ladies, including the sexy Elenita (Lily Damita). Swedish-dialect comedian El Brendel, an inescapable presence in the early-talkie product from Fox Studios, co-stars as Olson, who indulges in his familiar “get me the lay of the land” routine. Scripted by vaudevillian Billy K. Wells, a specialist in vulgar and sometimes downright dirty humor, The Cock-Eyed World worked overtime pushing the envelope of good taste (by 1929 standards, at least), which may be one of the reasons that this dreary exercise was such a huge hit at the box office.