The Jury Goes Round 'n' Round

The jury is deadlocked. There are eleven votes for guilty, and one vote for not guilty: Vera Vague, because she thinks the defendant has dreamy eye in this funny short.

Although director Jules White inserts a few of his loud and raucous gags -- which I do not consider funny -- the first eight minutes of this movie consist of Miss Vague (whose real name was Barbara Jo Allen) making funny remarks and wrangling with her fellow jurors. Some nice, naturalistic gags include Vernon Dent singing "Home Sweet Home" in an Italian accent, and later, as the jury exercises, getting into a conga line.

Mike Mazurki is one of the jurors, in a rare comedy turn. Everyone gets a bit to differentiate themselves in this offbeat Columbia comedy short.

If anyone who ever doubted the probity of the "twelve good men and true" philosophy were to watch this, then then they would have all the ammunition they'd ever need to bring back the likes of hanging judge Jeffreys or the wild west's Judge Parker. This hapless jury are deadlocked, eleven to one, because "Vera" (Barbara Jo Allen) has taken a bit of a shine to the accused and so is saving him from the chair by any means she can. That's where the humour comes in, and it's sadly all a bit ropey at that. The gags are contrived and staged to within an inch of their short lives. Allen was a talented artiste who does exude a degree of charisma here, but the others - who all get their moment in the sun - don't really add much. It's interesting to look at what made folks laugh on screen in a war-weary USA in 1945, but that's about the height of it.