Bien faire... et la séduire

I've seen most of Red Skelton's films, so I can safely say that this is one of his better films. It's not his best, mostly because his character was goofy but not as sweet as likable as he was in some of his other pictures...plus the end seem to go on a bit long. Still, it's enjoyable and you could do a lot worse!

When the film begins, Red (Red Skelton) is a total loser who wants to marry his sweetie (Janet Blair). However, she is a realist and knows that Red can't hold a job...and their marriage would be doomed. When he fired from yet another job, he decides he wants to become a Fuller Brush man...selling brushes door to door. Oddly, about a third of the way into the movie, the plot changes dramatically---and Red is pulled into a murder mystery. And, to make it worse, the cops think he's the most likely suspect. Can he, with the help of his girl, manage to find out what really happened and prove his innocence?

This film is pleasant and fun. As I mentioned above, the ending was a bit of a disappointment as Red's fight with the baddies took very long--too long. It was full of stunts and folks getting bonked on the head. I would have preferred one or two less bonks! Still, it is a lot better than many of his films with MGM where the studio insisted on placing this comic in musicals--which wasted his many talents.

Red Skelton could entertain you just with his funny faces, clown like slap-stick pratfalls and knock=about comedy. He was at his best in this fast-action b/w feature that also had in a role as a henchman, great little stunt man, Dave Sharpe. (Watch the wonderful knocks and tumbles during the chase and fight scenes at the end..)And who indeed is the killer of this murder-mystery plot woven into the gags and bang-up routines? Many of the younger movie fans today will understand why Red was a favorite of so many back in the 4O's movies and then later on radio and then on TV,after viewing this one...

Red Skelton can't keep a job. He's fired from his latest as a street cleaner when he runs his trash can into the commissioner's car. But Janet Blair loves him. She gets him a job as a salesman for a local Fuller Brush distributor. The usual comic situations ensue, and eventually a serious plot that will enable Red to become a hero and get the girl.

Red seems to be on loan to Columbia, where his best director, S. S.ylvan Simon was in charge. Keaton was still at Metro, but there's an able gag man in Frank Tashlin to help lift characters and situations from Skelton's radio show.

The Fuller Brush company was vastly successful with its network of salesmen and superior product. But when women started heading for the offices instead of homemaking, it shifted gears and is currently under a private conglomerate, but still operating.

THE FULLER BRUSH MAN is, hands-down, Red Skelton's best film. The script is tight and packed solid with one liners. The supporting cast, especially Janet Blair and Don McGuire, are very personable (McGuire in a greasy sort of way, of course!). The scenario is perfectly balanced between the first half wherein Red tries to make something of himself and the second half after which a murder is committed in the home of the sanitation commissioner who fired Skelton. Like Sylvan Simon's WHISTLING pictures, there is an extended set-piece - this time in Red's apartment. But unlike the MGM comedies (poor MGM, they tried at comedy) the cutting, camera-work and staging are more fluid. And funnier. BUT all this is but a build-up to one of the great chase finales in pictures. And here is where co-scenarist Frank Tashlin really shows his stuff. The chase is a raucous knockabout affair with the gangsters, all played by top stunt players such as Dave Sharpe and Bud Wolfe, bounce and tumble like the Keystone Kops. And what really sells the chase is Heinz Roemheld's dizzy, pizzicato scoring. It is perfectly punctuated and wraps the entire finale up into a three-ring circus act. It is very interesting to compare the chase finale in FULLER BRUSH MAN to the chase finale in THE YELLOW CAB MAN. The latter sequence was scored by MGM cartoon music maestro Scott Bradley. But for some unconscionable reason, Bradley's music was completely dropped from the finale. Talked about a scotched opportunity. Never mind. See THE FULLER BRUSH MAN. It's Red's best.

I saw this on TV in the 60s when Red's weekly show brought us such wonderful laughs and memories. For me, there was only one other TV funny man besides him (the great one-Jackie Gleason). So TV comedies made an impact on me and my sensibilities.

But the one Skeleton MOVIE which I have always remembered was this movie and the remarkably fun-filled finale in the war surplus warehouse! I finally watched it again on TV again after soooo many years. And by golly, the memory of all of the gags all came back to me and I enjoyed it even more this time. I am sure that the endless gags and funny sequences were copied by scores of comedies.

These are the types of movies, with their innocent fun and optimism which helped to form my personality and character for the rest of my life.

Oh woe to the current generation who never had these movies in their consciousness. I consider myself extremely fortunate to be a product of these wholesome movies.

Thank you, Red, wherever you are. You were very special to me, indeed.