Bargain Madness

An MGM PETE SMITH SPECIALITY Short Subject

Two housewives engage in BARGAIN MADNESS while competing for the best merchandise at a department store sale.

Eccentric Pete Smith narrates this enjoyable little comedy which illustrates how a couple of friendly neighbors can become bitter rivals over the possession of a bargain-priced girdle.

Often overlooked or neglected today, the one and two-reel short subjects were useful to the Studios as important training grounds for new or burgeoning talents, both in front & behind the camera. The dynamics for creating a successful short subject was completely different from that of a feature length film, something akin to writing a topnotch short story rather than a novel. Economical to produce in terms of both budget & schedule and capable of portraying a wide range of material, short subjects were the perfect complement to the Studios' feature films.

A Smith called Pete produces this one-reel comedy about how Dorothy Short (the wife of the short's director and co-writer) goes downtown to fight a dozen other women for the goods on sale at a department store.

It's shot wild (i.e., without sound) and narrated by Pete Smith in his usual mixture of corniness and sarcasm, with lots of slapstick falls and crossed eyes. Nowadays we'd say it was stereotyped, but in the aftermath of the Second World War, when goods were in short supply, sales were important for the one-income family rebuilding wealth. Miss Short fights her best friend, Sally Payne, while the hefty Maxine Gates tries to wriggle into a girdle six sizes too small; and Heaven help the men working at the store who get in their way!

Bargain Madness (1951)

** (out of 4)

Pete Smith Specialty has a woman leaving home early to get in on some bargains but her trouble starts as soon as she walks out the door and doesn't get any better when she gets to the store. This is a mildly entertaining Smith short that probably works just as good today as it did in 1951 since you can't help but think of Black Friday sales while watching this. With that in mind, some of the comedy bits with people getting trampled don't really make you laugh but there are still a few good moments. A lot of the humor comes from an overweight woman who is constantly trying to fit into clothes that are way too small for her.

This is a quite hilarious Pete Smith Specialty in which two housewives are determined to have first pick at a department store bargain sale, no matter how much tugging they have to do.

But what struck me was the scene showing the crowds waiting outside the store's doors awaiting access, pushing against the door windows and then stampeding into the store, knocking "Dorothy" to the ground while they stepped over her. In view of recent headlines about just such an event that ended tragically, it's hard not to call this sort of thing "madness." Funniest episode has an overweight woman determined to squeeze into a girdle with the clips returning to her every once in awhile as she tries on still another. It's a scene reminiscent of the Disney Cinderella's step-sisters trying to squeeze their big feet into a dainty glass slipper.

Plenty of amusing sight gags fill up the screen time, so it's a very enjoyable short subject with amusing sound effects as well punctuating the humorous aspects.