Boire et déboires

This review will be roundly slapped down as 'Not Helpful'. But with the best will in the world this teaming of the director of 'Never Give a Sucker an Even Break' and the cameraman of 'The Wild Bunch' with a dream cast never takes flight, and sadly outstays it's welcome. 'Hellzapoppin' managed the same idea with far more success the following year.

Had it been just part of a longer film - like the melodrama 'The Drunkard' in 'The Old Fashioned Way' - it might have been quite diverting; but doesn't sustain a full-length feature, even one clocking in at barely an hour. Buster Keaton is utterly wasted, again, although Margaret Hamilton is briefly permitted to display a surprisingly attractive singing voice.

This is an excellent example of parody. People that like the later humour in Airplane might see a few early hints of it here. Keaton and the villain were especially good.

Surprisingly, still very funny affectionate parody of silent cinema cliches. A cult film ahead of it's time.

This absurd parody of Victorian melodramas watched in the right frame of mind is very enjoyable. The cast attacks the material with the proper degree of whimsy playing it broadly, the only reasonable approach to something designed to be this silly.

The director and studio were wise to cast character actors with a talent for either farce or slapstick and then give them free rein to dig into the ridiculous situations with aplomb. The biggest surprise is probably Anita Louise, an busy and very lovely actress until her retirement but not especially known for her comedic skills. In this she jumps right into the mood of the proceedings playing a character that can only be described as an imbecile in her naiveté. By playing it straight and never winking at the audience she makes the woman an object of sympathy no matter how dumb she seems.

If you start watching this expecting anything but an overblown bit of ridiculousness you will either be disappointed or irritated.

Villain Still Pursued Her, The (1940)

** (out of 4)

Strange but dull comedy about a villain who's in love with a married woman. In order to steal her he turns the husband into an alcoholic so that he won't be able to support her or their son. It's strange seeing how alcoholism was looked at back in the day but this film gets zero laughs, although the strangeness keeps it watchable. Not even Buster Keaton can get any laughs in his small role.

Sadly Keaton had to appear in a lot of small budget stuff like this and even more sad is that this is one of the better films that he did.