The Big Noise

In this tale, a small laundry -- Purple Checker Club Cleaning & Dyeing, run by Julius Trent & his young partner -- gets leaned on by gangsters hunting for do-re-mi. The Mob tries to put the lean on honest business men by threatening to destroy customers' clothing if the washmen don't cough up "protection" cash by the deadline. The younger partner shows himself industrious in the love department, taking advantage of his customer connection to find the woman of his dreams. Capraesque ending. Even the meek can be strong. A crime story with heart.

"The Big Noise" is a nice little B-movie and is not to be confused by the movie of the same name by Laurel & Hardy. Despite its short runtime (57 minutes) and relatively small budget, it's a very satisfying and enjoyable little comedy.

The film begins with the head of a manufacturing company (Guy Kibbee) being forced out by the board. He's still quite rich and is convinced by his wife to retire to California. However, he's bored to death and decides to find SOMETHING to do and so he buys a half interest in a cleaning company. However, he and his new partner don't realize that mobsters working a protection racket have set their sights on the company. So what are they to do in this clever comedy? Tune in for yourself and see.

Aside from a super-annoying parrot that isn't necessary for the movie, this is a very well written and, above all, fun movie. A nice little comedy--one that seems best suited for Kibbee and his talents.

Guy Kibbee is ousted from the textile firm he founded because he is old-fashioned. Or so his underlings think. He retires but is bored. He boys a cleaning establishment, without his wife's knowing. Racketeers are after the cleaner. That's why the original owner had it on the market. The movie is about how Kibbee foils them. He was OK as a minor player but not someone who could carry a movie, at least not this one. He has a daughter too. And a young assistant. The supporting cast is neither bad nor good. The whole affair is strictly routine.

I am about to lower my rating from a four to a three, because there is a gratuitous homophobic comment. And who makes it? The protagonist, as played by Kibbee.

The kibbee brothers! Like alan hale, they were in about half of all the black and white films ever made, or it just seems like it. The manager that the banks have hired to run the company wants to sell new and improved products, but julius, the old fashioned, blustery company president, wants to wait until it has been proven safe. So julius finds another line of work, but that has its problems too. And it's all centered around his own daughter betty. It's lightweight and fun, with a serious storyline underneath. Will julius be proven right in the end? This was the first time I had heard the word persiflage used. Funny stuff. A warner brothers shorty, at fifty seven minutes. Directed by frank mcdonald. He directed a lot of westerns, and later became king of the tv series. Wyatt earp, bill kickock, national velvet. Story by edmund hartmann.