Diplomaniacs

Diplomaniacs is a 1933 American pre-Code comedy film starring Wheeler and Woolsey. The film in noted for its absurdist political satire, somewhat in the manner of Million Dollar Legs or Duck Soup, both of which were released within a year of Diplomaniacs.

Plot
Willy Nilly (Bert Wheeler) and Hercules Glub (Robert Woolsey) are barbers with almost no customers: their shop is on an Indian reservation. The tribe pays them to represent the Indian Nation at a peace conference in Switzerland. Unbeknownst to them, several armaments manufacturers want to ensure that the peace conference is a failure, and do everything they can to sabotage it. Ringleader Winkelreid (Louis Calhern) hires Dolores and Fifi (Marjorie White and Phyllis Barry) to distract Willy and Hercules, and steal their secret documents. Willy and Hercules, unaware of the intrigue surrounding them, persist in carrying out their mission.

Cast

 * Bert Wheeler as Willy Nilly
 * Robert Woolsey as Hercules Glub
 * Marjorie White as Dolores
 * Phyllis Barry as Fifi
 * Louis Calhern as Winkelreid
 * Hugh Herbert as Wise Gai Chow-Chow, the Chinaman
 * Edgar Kennedy as Chairman of the Peace Conference
 * Richard Carle as Ship's Captain
 * William Irving as Schmerzenpuppen
 * Neely Edwards as Puppenschmerzen
 * Billy Bletcher as Schmerzenschmerzen
 * Teddy Hart as Puppenpuppen
 * Edward Cooper as Indian Chief
 * Dewey Robinson as Luke the Hermit
 * Charles Coleman as Marie, Parisian butler
 * Grace Hayle as Countess
 * Charlie Hall as Shaffner, Winkelreid's valet
 * Richard Alexander as Peace Conference Sergeant-at-Arms

Box office
Diplomaniacs was the first Wheeler & Woolsey comedy under the supervision of studio head Merian C. Cooper, who resolved to cut costs during the troubled Depression era. The team's recent comedies Hold 'Em Jail and Girl Crazy had cost $408,000 and $502,000, respectively, under previous studio head David O. Selznick; Cooper slashed the budget for Diplomaniacs to $242,000. According to studio records, the film made a profit of $65,000.