Young Onions

By the 1930s, the once very famous and successful Mack Sennett was still making comedies...though they were, for the most part, dull and starred mostly unknowns. This is a huge departure from his heyday in the 1910s when Charlie Chaplin, Mabel Normand, Fatty Arbuckle and many other famous comics were employed by Sennett at Keystone Pictures. But in the 30s, his studio was gone and he was making pictures for other studios. Because of this, I wasn't thrilled to see "Young Onions" and assumed it would be another of these bland 30s comedies.

Dorothy Granger plays a woman who is frustrated with her husband Forrester Harvey). Every night he comes home from work, eats, and falls asleep on the couch. A bit later, Pete (a real cad) suggests she ditch her husband and have some fun with him in Tijuana, Mexico. At first, she's offended and slaps him. But, later....

This film has only a few laughs and its pace is rather slow. In other words, it's a typical Sennet film of the era. I would also say that the actors were not exactly top-notch. Overall, watchable but certainly not among the better comedies of the 1930s.

Forrester Harvey and Dorothy Granger have been married five years, and life has grown dull. She thinks she'll start a diet tomorrow, but as soon as he nods off, she butters another piece of corn and starts eating it. Kenneth Thompson suggests she goes with him to Tijuana, and she orders him to leave. His buddy, Harry Bowen, suggests he goes to Malibu and he says no. But when they quarrel, he announce s she's off to Mexico, and he states he's going to the beach.

It's well acted, but dull. Here's the secret that Mack Sennett had been harboring for 20 years: his performers could act. And Everyone here acts perfectly well. It's just that the gags that would make this a funny comedy are missing. Alas, Sennett's productions are back to where they were in 1912, when his bosses at Biograph insisted on story and acting. He revolted and went off to found Keystone, but now he had grown tired, and the industry was not doing well enough to sustain him.