Beauty and the Bus

I just finished watching this one on a very old disc in my collection - I didn't even know it was there! - It's typical Hal Roach "Keystone Kops" mayhem with all those cars, but updated with female characters Todd & Kelly. The story is funny enough on its own, but what got to me was watching Thelma Todd play the "straight" to goofy Patsy Kelly, I wonder how many takes they had to do to keep Thelma from laughing her cute little ass off! Patsy is downright silly, a precursor to the Three Stooges, much of her stumbling/bumbling, falling down, and just generally a walking disaster wherever she goes, but such fun to watch! This is one not meant to be taken seriously, especially for lovers of fine old cars being destroyed en masse! (I understand the car they used for for Thelma & Patsy was a very expensive (and RARE) Chrysler roadster, cost a ton of money in the depression!) Watch this one for a good healthy laugh!

Patsy Kelly is the friend from hell. Everything she touches turns to ruin in this Hal Roach short. The girls win a car (what appears to be an extremely rare 1933 Chrysler roadster) in a raffle and things immediately go wrong, all thanks to Kelly. This had to be one of Roach's most expensive shorts for the year, given not only the trashing of a perfectly good $675 car, but there's also one of the largest multi-chain car accidents/traffic jams I've ever seen on film. Look for the late Tommy 'Butch' Bond in an early scene and Harold Lloyd veteran Tiny Sandford in one of his usual bruiser roles. Kelly was a mere 23 (born to act 35), the tragic Thelma Todd was about 28 here and looks pretty darn hot. This is one of the better Todd-Kelly shorts and a lot of fun. Who else but Roach would create a girl-girl comedy team? Strong 8/10.

Plenty of corn in this one, but it has its laugh out loud moments. I found the characters appealing, and the humor timeless. Only one or two gags might depend on knowing something about the '30s.

That theaters used to hold raffles to increase attendance will seem a little unusual to todays viewers, but our "hands-on" contests at shopping malls aren't much different. A shiny new car draws 'em in every time.

Kelly (the plain brunette) plays the fool. She's got pratfalls and funny looks in her bag of tricks, but she really shines as an oddball. She seems to ad-lib some of her better riffs, and Todd (the glamorous blonde) hangs in there.

The theme of gal-pals is played very nicely between these two. "When did I ever get you in trouble?" is a pretty good tag line. They remind me of how Lucy and Ethel seemed like natural friends (with issues). It's worth repeated viewings, especially the big traffic jam scene- there's a lot going on there.

Beauty and the Bus (1933)

** (out of 4)

Hal Roach comedy has Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly attending a theater where a car is given away in a lottery. Of course the two end up winning after causing trouble inside the theater but even more trouble follows when they try to get the car home. I'm really torn when it comes to these Todd-Kelly pictures because some are good, others bad and some are just downright annoying. I think my biggest problem with the bland ones is that there's really no good writing but instead we get some lame jokes that are never funny. The big joke here is that Kelly can't keep from running her mouth, which just gets the duo in one mess after another. This includes running her mouth to a cop, which ends up getting them a ticket. After a small wreck Kelly begins to run her mouth, which ends up causing a major traffic jam. I'm really hit and miss on Kelly's type of humor and it just didn't work for me here. I didn't find her funny but just annoying. As usual, Todd is certainly very graceful and steals the film but she doesn't get too much to do here. Eddie Baker gets a couple decent scenes as the motorcycle cop and Roach creation Tiny Sandford has one brief scene but adds very little.

I have just finished watching "Beauty and the Bus" with Thelma Todd. It is a shame that Thelma's films are not more available on DVD, but that is another story. This Hal Roach short had potential, but Patsy Kelly drags it right down. Ms. Kelly is really annoying in this film. She does a lot of things that really don't make any sense. I know she was following direction and the script, so that is probably where the weakness lies. Actually the plot-line is rather lame as well. For a comedy, it is not very funny. Hal Roach had a flair for this type of comedy, but they miss the boat with this film. As usual, Ms. Todd gives her all.....Of course, to me, any film with Thelma Todd is well worth watching!