Calaboose

This is one of the 3 feature screen liner series that feature Jimmy Rogers and Noah Beery Jnr and directed by Hal Roach Jnr.The main features of all 3 being that they are only 5 reels long and are painfully unfunny.This was really an attempt by Hal Roach to combat the effect of the double feature,so that exhibitors could for example show 2 screen liners claim that this was a double feature programme and therefore get in maybe two or three shows more per day.However since his studio ceased production when he was enlisted in 1942 this theory was never strongly put to the test.It has to be said that the material is very thin and there are virtually no laughs to be had.So that at even 45 minutes or so it drags along.Roach made a big mistake in letting go of Laurel & Hardy and it was all downhill from there on in.

In the 1930s, the Hal Roach Studio was creating the best comedy...better than anyone else. With such successful stars as Laurel & Hardy, The Little Rascals, and Charley Chase, it was a pleasure seeing a Roach film. But with changing trends in the movie industry and some really BAD decisions, Roach got rid of all these stars and began making 'streamliners'...B-movies with an even shorter run time and less famous (hence, CHEAPER) actors. Some of them are decent...but most suffer from one HUGE problem...the films just weren't funny. Among the worst of these were the films starring Jimmy Rogers and Noah Beery Junior. They just lacked laughs...and, amazingly, they made three of them!

The plot is thin and tough to believe. Jim and Pidge (Rogers and Beery) arrive in a town and get jobs breaking horses. However, Pidge comes up with a STUPID plan. The sheriff's pretty daughter likes rehabbing prisoners and she envisions herself a genius at this. She's, in fact, a dope and mostly just spoils prisoners in her daddy's jail...and Pidge wants to be spoiled. So, he breaks some silly laws and pretends to be a desperate criminal in order to get the full treatment from the lady. Unfortunately, a REAL desperate criminal arrives in town and things go awry.

Not a single laugh. Additionally, Rogers has almost no personality and Beery isn't a whole lot better. The plot also makes little sense. The only really good thing is that it's short...at only 45 minutes.

Calaboose (1943)

** (out of 4)

Hal Roach comedy was directed by the famous producer's son, Hal Roach, Jr.. Jimmy Rogers and Noah Beery, Jr. play two cowboys who ride into a small town where Beery falls in love with a girl (Mary Brian). Beery learns that the only way to get close to her is by getting arrested because the girl loves going to jail and trying to change criminals. This film runs 45-minutes and it makes good for the most part, although it's never as funny as it thinks it is. Rogers and Beery and pretty good in their roles but the screenplay doesn't allow them much. There's a subplot about gangsters who come into town but this here doesn't add anything or go anywhere. This was the second of three films in the "Streamliners" series.