Opened by Mistake

Hal Roach Studios produced some great comedy in the 1920s and 30s--with the likes of Laurel & Hardy, Charley Chase, Harold Lloyd and the Little Rascals. However, they also produced a few teams which are mostly forgotten today (such as The Boy Friends and the Thelma Todd shorts)--and for the most part I can easily understand why these minor comedies have become obscure. As for Thelma Todd, the studio first paired her with Zasu Pitts who simpered like Olive Oyle. Then, to try to rejuvenate the series they replaced Pitts with the very, very, very loud and brash Patsy Kelly. While some seem to like their films based on reviews of their films, I rather disliked them, as they were clearly using scripts and directors that were beneath the 'big talent'.

"Opened By Mistake" is not a terrible film--though this is far from a glowing endorsement. It's pretty typical of the team's films--Patsy horribly overacts and Thelma mostly just stands around doing nothing. It starts off with Patsy deservedly being fired from her job. She then inexplicably wanders off to the hospital where Thelma works--seemingly just to make a nuisance of herself. Thelma is on thin ice on this job and does her best to hide her friend--who is then mistaken as a very sick patient--one in need of an operation. The film has many gags--most of which fall flat (such as the anesthesia scene) but it still isn't bad viewing...just not very good either. My advice is to see ALL of Laurel & Hardy's, Charley Chase's and Harold Lloyd. Then, if you are so inclined, try this film!

Opened by Mistake (1934)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Another pleasant comedy from Roach's studio has Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly playing friends who are constantly getting into trouble. This time out Kelly is fired from her job so she goes to the hospital where Todd works hoping to spend the night with her. Another nurse was just fired for having someone in her room so Todd refuses to let her stay but agrees to put her in a patient's room. This takes a turn for the worst when the head nurse things Kelly is actually a patient waiting for an operation. I found this to be a winning entry in the long running series of Todd-Kelly films. It's certainly not a masterpiece and it's not on the same level of the studio's Laurel and Hardy films but there are enough nice laughs here to make it worth sitting through. Once again we have Kelly being a complete idiot who if she'd just shut up then she wouldn't get into all the trouble that she does. Some of the later films in the series would have her going way over the top but these earlier shorts have her somewhat more controlled and to me that's a lot funnier. The highlight of the film is a sequence where Kelly and the head nurse are fighting with each trying to make the other pass out with some gas. Todd doesn't have too much to do here as her character gets knocked out towards the end and we don't see much of her.

If you don't mind, ladies and germs, I prefer to kinda sit this one out... I'm not feeling too well this time around....

Hey, wait a minute! Have I been knocked unconscious or what?

Ha ha. Just makin' it with the ol' gags again. You know that ol' rascal Cornbread with his bag of gags. Quite the kidder, isn't he?

This short contains one of the earliest uses I've seen of slow-motion. An earlier example is "Alum and Eve," which Todd is also in, and also takes place at a hospital. Wow. What a coeeinkedink!

Nora Cecil plays a blue-haired nurse who is seriously trying to do her job, while Todd is trying to give Kelly a place to stay out of the rain, and in order to remain dry, she must go under the knife, so nurse Cecil tries to put Kelly under, but it's no use, and pretty soon it's a fight to the finish with the ether machine.

I can't figure out what they deliver to Patsy. What is that? Stew or something? Anyway, some of it gets on the thermometer, and she ends up swallowing it! Then she falls off of the gurney as they're trying to keep her calm....

There is a scene where they disguise a bed by using two crutches and a sheet draped over them, but I'm not here to discuss that. Alls I know is I've seen the gag performed in several places, probably used to its optimal best by The Three Stooges.

I'm here to discuss the Pandoras box that has been opened by mistake by mischief-making Kelly, and this tickles mischief-maker Cornbread Jones to death. What crazy medical silliness! Where's the laughing gas, you ask? Who needs it?! The rain, and the scenes that include rain in it are what do it for me.

In this short, Kelly is an incompetent and lazy telephone operator. At one point instead of connecting calls, she doing a crossword puzzle and when stumped at one of the clues, calls Todd. She asks her "What General is buried in Grant's tomb?" To which Todd replies "What dumb dame is wearing Patsy Kelly's shoes?" Quite rightly, Kelly gets fired and goes to Todd, who is a nurse, and asks to stay with her at her room in the hospital. Todd says no and then comes up the scheme to have Kelly stay in an empty patient's room. The head nurse finds Kelly and mistakes her for a patient that needs emergency surgery. In the best part of the short, Kelly tries to get away from the head nurse and a male aide and then she and the head nurse try to knock each other out with anesthetic gas. It's a wonderful slapstick scene done in part in slow motion. Hilarious. Todd doesn't have much to do and it's really Kelly's show. I like Kelly's brashness and she's really good with slapstick - a comedy form I like. This is a funny comedy short worth seeing.