On the Wagon

I recently bought a couple collections of Vitaphone short comedies from the 1930s and I can now see why Turner Classic Movies rarely shows any of them...they are, with only a few exceptions, terribly unfunny. Fortunately, this final movie on one of the discs made me laugh and actually holds up very well today.

Shemp Howard plays Johnny, an office boy who is very eager to become one of their process servers in the field. However, no one except for his fiancée takes him seriously. But, after Muscleboud Pete pulverizes all their process servers, the boss reluctantly allows Johnny the chance to serve Pete with court papers...or die trying. What follows is a surprisingly funny and enjoyable short with Johnny trying many different ways to outsmart his psychopathic quarry. Well worth seeing...especially when Johnny tries going in drag to surprise Pete!!

The other reviewer has confused himself and reviewed Serves You Right,the last short on disc 1.This short,commencing disc 2 is about the efforts of rather drunk Howard answer Aylesbury to get into their flat without waking their wives and mother,the later of whom is on the warpath with a rolling pin.Sadly like many of the films in this collection you just waiting for just one funny piece of business.Watching these shorts is a bit like chinese water torture.What might seem slightly amusing on the first couple of shorts becomes infuriating and irritating by the time you get on to the second disc.