Music in Your Hair

Given the talent here -- Billies Gilbert and Bletcher in front of the camera, Charley Chase behind it -- this is a surprisingly dull short comedy from Roach, as the Billies play stock German dialectician comics going out for a night at a nightclub. Chase directs competently, but nothing really surprisingly funny ever happens -- perhaps there was no sense of any real character on the part of anyone involved.

There are some interesting shots, particularly the low-shot view of the floor show, and this is not a waste of time -- both Billies were good dialect comedians and quite capable of doing the standard routines more than competently. It's just that it's been done as well or better far too many times.

Music in Your Hair (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Hal Roach short has comedian Chase stepping behind the camera and delivering a nice little film. Billy Gilbert and Billy Bletcher play neighbors who go to a speak easy to see Gilbert's son perform. Neither men are really sure what to expect but they end up going for some music. The plot of this film is as small as you can get but both men turn in very funny performances and make this worth watching. Most people will remember Gilbert from countless Laurel and Hardy films including THE MUSIC BOX. He's extremely funny here especially a scene where his son tells him he's going to work in a speak easy and Gilbert takes that as his son telling him to lower his voice. Another good scene is one where Gilbert isn't allowed into the club and the doorman keeps punching him through the door. The payoff to this sequence is extremely funny. Chase handles all the material fairly well even though there's nothing too spectacular going on.