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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.

Red Skelton was one of the most famous and best-loved comedians in America from the 1940s to 1971. Everybody was always talking about him and looking forward to his TV show every week. He was a national icon. He played a lovable simple fool, in the tradition of Harry Langdon and Stan Laurel. His remarkable comic abilities were never properly captured in his films because there were never enough closeups for us to see the details of his comedic effects. For instance, in this film there is one wonderful scene where he thrusts his lower jaw out more than one could think possible and impersonates someone who wanted to help his friend by 'being a spare ashtray'. The trouble is, we get to see this only in badly lit long shots! This film was the fourth time Skelton was directed by S. Sylan Simon, who made one more film and died tragically at the age of only 41. But Simon never did justice to Skelton's special qualities, and Skelton's producers also saw him as just a useful clown. In fact, with proper handling and loving attention by an inspired director, Skelton could have achieved high art, of which he was well capable, since he was a a truly great clown. In this film, his girl friend who is a perfect foil was the lively Janet Blair, just as American as apple pie and absolutely right for 1948. The script has some great gags in it. At one point, where Skelton is being used as 'allure practice' by a siren, she says to him: 'I usually have men eating out of my hand.' Skelton replies with childlike innocence: 'I've already had my lunch.' Maybe nobody remembers any more about Fuller brush salesmen, but they used to be everywhere. There were more of them than neighbourhood cats and dogs. Yes, they really existed, and 'get in the door' was their motto, just as in this film. The Fuller Brush Company really existed too, and maybe the producer got a big product placement bonus in his pocket, or his studio did. This film was so successful, it was followed by 'The Fuller Brush Woman', starring the wacky Lucille Ball. Certainly Fuller brushes were familiar to every American, in the way that Tupperware was. This film has a spectacular closing chase sequence with some truly amazing sight gags, a few of which rival Buster Keaton's, but they are filmed so badly that much of their impact is lost. Whoever designed them was brilliant. It is a very long and very astonishing sequence which anyone interested in such things really needs to see. I found myself wishing it could all be recreated and shot properly. What was lacking from Skelton's films was the care and imagination to match his innate genius. But if you like Skelton and want to see him in top form, watch this one. The fact that it could have been so much better is something you just have to put up with. It may be corny, but it is never dull.

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...

The opening scenes of "The Fuller Brush Man" are hardly promising: Red Skelton, playing a ne'er-do-well who can't hold a job, hopes to impress his lady-love with his skills as a door-to-door salesman, not knowing that he's been sent to the worst neighborhood in town by his adversary, his gal's other boyfriend. Seeing charming Skelton (with his happy chatter and lilting walk) being set-up as a chump is awfully sour, and the slapstick chaos which ensues isn't funny as a result. Thankfully, writer Frank Tashlin quickly gets off this baleful track, turning the proceedings instead into a comedic murder mystery, with Red one of the suspects in the killing of his former boss. The new plot thread--while neither original nor ingenious--does allow Skelton lots of funny business as an actor, with Janet Blair the perfect counterpart to Red's unintentional hero. The wild, free-for-all finale in a warehouse has staging and stunt-work as good as anything from the silent era, if not better. No wonder this was a box-office smash in 1948--it leaves the audience with a succession of happy highs. Followed two years later by "The Fuller Brush Girl". *** from ****

A bumbling sanitation worker can't seem to hold a job or his girl, so she gets him a job as a door-to-door Fuller Brush salesman. But can he with his madcap ways hold on to it, and just as importantly win his girl away from his slickster competition.

I hope Red and Janet got extra pay for all those stunts they do at the bang-up climax. In fact, the 15-minutes of non-stop acrobatics may set a slapstick Hollywood record. I really liked the first part where the bumbling Red goes door to door trying to sell his Fuller brushes. The comedic potential of Red and behind-the-door surprises promises a comedic gold mine. However, the screenplay soon transitions into a murder mystery and from there into a lengthy chase ending in a war surplus warehouse and a wildly acrobatic finale. Of course, there's a lot of funny stuff in the latter two, but still there's little chance to catch your breath between stunts. Piling stunts on like that, to me, lessens the chance of enjoying particularly funny ones. My guess is that ex-Disney cartoonist Frank Tashlin was behind these bouncing, swinging, belly-flop antics. They seem right up his alley.

Anyway, Red proves one of the liveliest comics around, while Blair does a lot more than stand around looking pretty. Still, I'm wondering if Columbia owed sexy blonde vixen Jergens a payday since she sort of drops in and out but still leaves her vampish mark. All in all, it's a funny, if at times over-done, Skelton feature. He's at his peak during this period and there's nobody quite like him, so stay tuned. It may not be his best comedy, but it's sure to tease the funny bone in his inimitable style.