Excuse My Dust

Red Skelton is an inventor in a small town in Indiana in 1895, anxious to invent a working automobile. He and Sally Forrest are in love. She is the daughter of William Demarest, the owner of a livery stable. His principal rival is Macdonald Carey. It all ends with a marvelous race among competing motorists that was directed by Buster Keaton, although Roy Rowland is the credited director.

There are various anachronisms that set my teeth on edge, like the use of the word "jass" -- for early jazz music. In reality, the word can't be traced back earlier than about 1912, and then it was in reference to baseball. Likewise, Miss Forrest is given a modern dance number, shoehorned into a dream sequence. If it seems to bear a relationship to the "Girl Hunt" number from THE BAND WAGON, well, Arthur Schwartz provided the music for three songs (with Dorothy Fields writing the lyrics) and Hermes Pan did the choreography.

There are fewer typical Red Skelton comic bits, but the final race is a fine series of comic disasters. By then, however, it was a little late in the show. Although it's worth watching, it's not one of Skelton's best starring vehicles. With Raymond Walburn, Jane Darwell, and Paul Harvey.

A fun film that is not well known. No, no oscars for this, but a very good small scale musical with an electric Sally Forest. Why MGM didn't put her in more musicals is beyond me. Just as good as Vera Ellen and all the other MGM dancers. Pretty girl too!! Red Skelton is always good and nice seeing him in lead role instead of the side kick he generally played. For light hearted entertainment, this is a good one. You won't be disappointed!!!

It's 1895 Willow Falls, Indiana. Inventor Joe Belden (Red Skelton) is creating his gasomobile. It's a horse-less carriage. Only, it never seems to work and he sets his own barn on fire. Liz Bullitt is his girlfriend. Her horse ranch owning father is opposed to him and prefers her other suitor Cyrus Ransom, Jr.

The biggest name in the credits seems to be Buster Keaton as an uncredited writer and director. I do wonder about the story behind the scene. There are a lot of cooks in this kitchen. I would probably work harder on getting better songs. They're ok but rather old fashion. They are songs from the late 19th century to the jazz age. Red Skelton is doing the good-natured goof without going too wacky. There is a car race at the end. It's not the most exciting, but it is interesting to see all the old cars. This is a nice lesser musical with little lasting effect.

Watching Excuse My Dust I couldn't help thinking that this would have been a better vehicle for that other redheaded comedian Danny Kaye. The character of the inventor would have suited Kaye's persona far better than Red Skelton.

That being said Red did well enough with this comedy set in those Gay Nineties when he's one of many people who are starting to experiment with the horseless carriage. He might not follow through well enough with the execution, but he's definitely got the right idea as he's got prototype vacuum cleaners and garbage disposal machines as well.

But when you're courting Sally Forrest and her father William Demarest makes his living with a livery stable that causes most of Red's problems. Not to mention pretentious vamp Monica Lewis who's from St. Louis, but her year abroad has her sporting a French accent.

I have to single out MacDonald Carey who looks like he was having a ball playing Red's rival in romance and racing. All Carey had to do was grow a handlebar mustache long enough for twirling. He was doing a great Snidely Whiplash.

Excuse My Dust is a pleasant enough Red Skelton comedy. Arthur Schwartz and Dorothy Fields wrote some rather forgettable songs. Danny Kaye could have gotten in on the musical numbers.

But Skelton fans will like this.

Red plays an inventor who has been working on building a very early internal combustion gasoline auto (the 1890s). However, he fails again and again and everyone in town thinks he's a nut. Late in the film he finally perfects his car and enters 'the big race' to prove everyone is wrong.

Red Skelton did some very charming and funny films. However, "Excuse My Dust" is a rare miss--mostly because the studio (MGM) wouldn't allow him to be who he was. Skelton was a comic--and one who had a great knack for getting the audience to like him. However, here the writers didn't respect Skelton for who he was and instead tried to fit him into the MGM mold--with lots of beautiful Technicolor and lots of songs. Skelton was not a singer (his voice wasn't bad but this was obviously NOT why he was in films) and they tried to make it a musical comedy not a comedy--a serious mistake. All too often, humor seems (at best) secondary and the film has very few laughs--too few. Additionally, the film had way too much plot--and often (such as during the big race near the end) the plot seemed more important than laughs or his character. So what we're left with is a pretty looking film with lots of music and few laughs. Because of this, I recommend you try one of his other films--such as "Watch the Birdie" or "The Yellow Cab Man".