On the Loose

On the Loose (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Zasu Pitts and Thelma Todd are tired of all their dates taking them to Coney Island. They finally meet a couple gentlemen who they think highly of but the surprise date turns out to be another trip to Coney Island. Pitts and Todd really don't bring too much to this film but things pick up once they arrive at Coney Island. The biggest laugh comes from the cameo by Laurel and Hardy.

Along Came Auntie (1926)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Screwball comedy has a woman wanting to inherit $100,000 from her aunt so she must pretend to be married to her first husband (Oliver Hardy), which doesn't sit too well with her new husband. There's nothing overly funny or original here but the rather violent fighting gets a few laughs and Hardy is as energetic as ever.

This movie is very light to watch and has some nice humor in it. It also provides us with a good view of how fairs looked like in the '30's. It was especially fun and weird to see that the adults were having just as much fun as children on the fair.

There basically of course is very little story present but there are more than enough sequences and humor present to make us forget that. The characters in the movie are also really good and strong enough to carry the movie. Zasu Pitts and Thelma Todd formed a pretty good comical duo. Claud Allister was also good and quite fun to watch in the movie, as an over-the-top English chap.

There also are surprising quite a few sexual-references present, even some homosexual-references, which was all quite daring for its time.

At the very end of the movie we also see two very well known boys, none other than Laurel & Hardy, who want to ask the girls out.

Good fun, directed by Mr. Hal Roach himself.

7/10

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It looks like Hal Roach was attempting to popularise the pairing of the gorgeous Thelma Todd and Zasu Pitts here by including cameos by Laurel & Hardy and their occasional nemesis Charlie Hall. This film actually re-works a number of ideas from one of Laurel & Hardy's silent shorts - mostly in the Coney Island funfair locations - even using the same shaky hand-held shots.

The film is quite good of it's kind and Todd and Pitt work well together - especially in the scene in which they reminisce about all the losers who have taken them to Coney Island - their least favourite destination - on dates. Billy Gilbert also stands out as the camp dressmaker who finds it impossible to describe his creations without embarrassing himself and hides his true character behind his effeminate manner. And of course, a film only needs ninety seconds of Laurel & Hardy to be lifted immeasurably.

Thelma Todd and Zasu Pitts bemoan the fact that every time they have a date, it seems the guys want to take them to Coney Island. While this amusement park was a hot spot for young people, it was probably the same old same old. We get scenes of the two begrudgingly trying to look like they are having fun. Dating was interesting because these two were at the mercy of the guy who asked them out. They are both interesting actress. I remember Zasu in Erich Von Stroheim's epic movie "Greed." In that she plays a woman who becomes obsessed with her savings. Mostly she was a gawky comedy actress. This is lightweight but probably best remembered for the two guys that show up at her door at the conclusion of the film.

Zazu and Thelma impart great chemistry as best friends, a precursor of Laverne and Shirley one might say; unfortunately, as in the case of the latter pair, they are dependent on quality material from one script to the next, and this basic story line is pretty mundane: a millionaire playboy splashes mud on the girls and makes good by buying them new ensembles and taking them to Coney Island (to the playboy, slumming is chic, but we've established in an earlier scene that Thelma and Zazu are sick to death of cheapskate boyfriends taking them to Coney). Jokes just don't hit right even when they have potential, like the effeminate coutourier who talks like a cigar-chewing mug whenever the customers aren't around, or the cameo by Laurel and Hardy that drags a bit (in all fairness, these comedies were probably edited to anticipate audience response, with long silent pauses in order to avoid talking over the laughter). What works for a modern audience is the girls' friendship and their ability to laugh at their own dilemma -- a surprisingly believable reaction, although the microphone doesn't consistently pick up the humorous asides they're sharing. Also valuable is the slice-of-life account of a Coney Island visit, circa 1931. Chicagoans will no doubt also shed a nostalgic tear, recalling the now-defunct Riverview amusement park, which offered a lot of the same rides we see here, not to mention authentic sense of carnival atmosphere. Thelma is lovely, and obliges the camera with a little cheesecake as she gets ready for bed; the fact that she would die a few years hence adds a languid touch to the fun she seems to have onscreen. I'd like to research the "mystery" surrounding her alleged suicide, or at least see the 1991 TV movie about it starring Loni Anderson.