Fun on a Week-End

It's a wonder that EDDIE BRACKEN and PRISCILLA LANE manage to hold their heads high and infuse some much needed laughs into this ridiculous attempt at screwball comedy in the late '40s. They're such pros that with a better script they may have managed to make this one work.

The only comedy highlight is ALLEN JENKINS who manages to con quite a few laughs out of his role as an unbelieving bystander, and FRITZ FELD as a pianist whose act is always inadvertently getting ruined by Bracken and Lane and their Great Dane who loves to chew on furniture legs.

It's an obviously low-budget poverty row production that has to be the nadir of Bracken and Lane's respective careers. Priscilla was making a comeback after a three year absence and had lost none of her charm, but her role is enough to sink the abilities of any actress. No wonder she retired after one more film. Bracken is less frenetic than usual but also has an impossible role to play.

Sorry, two thumbs down on this one. All those rear projection shots are too distracting for comfort, indicating just how low the budget was to produce such a farce.

"This is getting to be too much," exclaims one unfortunate character. The viewer will agree.

You do not need to wait until the weekend to enjoy this film. Its type of merriment can be enjoyed any old day of the week. Maybe that's because of Priscilla Lane, who plays her part with such coolness and ease that it's a truly a delight to watch her.

In fact, this is one of Miss Lane's last films, and it might be called a triumphant comic performance at that. It reminds me of her earlier screwball antics in ARSENIC AND OLD LACE. Only this time instead of Cary Grant, her sparring partner is Eddie Bracken, who brings his own unique brand of humor and energy to the proceedings. The story starts quite simply but as complications ensue and the laughs snowball, it becomes increasingly obvious (and increasingly painful for one's ribcage) that this is a fun film!

I have read some less than favorable remarks regarding this film but have to say that I disagree if for no other reason that the two leads make this plot a pleasure to watch develop. Eddie Bracken is great as the understated 'idea man' and Priscilla Lane is well...Priscilla Lane. Screwball Comedy is generally a hit or miss undertaking that every viewer basically decides for themselves. This film is no exception. If you can 'buy in' to the premise that these two financially challenged misfits can take their meager means and attempt to snowball them into a life of wealth and privilege, then you will enjoy this crazy adventure of posers and pomposity.

Priscilla Lane and Eddie Bracken meet on the beach, where they've both slept. They're broke, but Bracken has ideas about how to meet and influence the wealthy into getting what they want. He doesn't have the nerve to do so. Miss Lane has the nerve, so they go into partnership by bulge and bluster, their only ally a Great Dane who likes to eat furniture legs.

Andrew L. Stone wrote, produced, and directed this comedy. He was one of the auteurs in Hollywood in this era, and reasonably successful; from 1944 through 1972, he directed a score of movies, few of them major, but usually quite profitable, within a wide range of genres. He died in 1999, aged 96.

There's quite a cast of farceurs here, but the movie is timed a trifle slow lending it an air of anxiety that reflects the threat of Bracken and Miss Lane's plans collapsing. The best role belongs to Fritz Feld as a paranoid pianist, but there are moments for Tom Conway, Allen Jenkins, Clarence Kolb, and Arthur Treacher.

"Fun on a Weekend" was written, directed, and produced by Andrew Stone... heck, he even used his wife as the musical director. Eddie Bracken plays a down on his luck guy, who bumps into a girl who's also in money trouble. Not a very strong script, but props to Allen Jenkins for his "Abbott & Costello" comedy bits in the diner. Too bad he got all the good lines. They also rely on the antics of a dog who befriends them for more comedic bits... It's not a total washout, but the plot feels forced, as if they are just going through the motions. Keep an eye out for Clarence Kolb as the stuffy, old rich guy... he always played the cranky old man, the judge, or the wealthy uncle. Also note the hotel bell clerk is Bill Benedict - he was the tall, blond guy from the Bowery Boys, and was called "Whitey" in most of the films he did. There's no spark between Bracken and the blond co-star Priscilla Lane, but some of the gags are amusing.