Under The Rainbow

My Star Wars week continues with a look back at a forgotten Carrie Fisher comedy. A very naughty, un pc gem, 1981's Under The Rainbow.

It's 1935 and little person Rollo, Cork Hubbert, wants to escape his small Kansas town and has his sights set on Hollywood in hopes of being cast as a munchkin in The Wizard Of Oz. He gets his wish and ends up at a hotel with the other Munchkin actors. Annie Clark, Carrie Fisher, is the studio head in charge of looking after all of the small statured performers. Also staying at the hotel is a Duke and Duchess, Eve Arden and Joseph Maher, with agent Bruce Thorpe, Chevy Chase. They are under his protection from a hired assassin, Robert Donner.There's also a busload of Asian tourists and a dwarf Nazi spy, Billy Barty, on the guest list. The spy is there to trade secrets with an Asian man, but with so many tourists, he's not sure who his contact is. Plus, because of his stature, he is mistaken as an Oz castmember. The little people have a wild party as all of the chaos happens around them.

The script idea stemmed from stories told about the Oz set. Supposedly the Munchkins knew how to party.

Both Fisher and Chase have said that this is one of the worst movies they've been in. I disagree. I'll admit that it's kind of a busy movie. There's five writers credited so that's to be expected. But there's a lot of funny things happening amidst all of the chaos. I also like how un pc it is. A movie like this would never be made today.

Chase and Fisher are both pretty funny in this. it's Eve Arden though really cracks me up as the Duchess. She mistakes the little people as kids which leads to some hilarious results. There's also a funny running gag that involves the Duke and Duchesses dog Strudel.

A lot of today's audiences might find it obnoxious, but I think it's a funny flick.

Available on dvd exclusively through Warner Archive.