Two Knights from Brooklyn

Two Knights from Brooklyn (1949)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Strange film from Hal Roach takes two other movies and edits them into this one. Joe Sawyer and William Bendix plays cab owners and at the start of the film they're getting an award when we see two flashbacks to their earlier days. The first, from the film Taxi, Mister has Bendix meeting and courting his future wife (Grace Bradley) while a gangster is also after her. The second flashback, from The McGuerins from Brooklyn, has the wife thinking that Bendix is cheating on her so Sawyer must pretend to be dating the woman, which then sets his girlfriend off. This series has been rather hit and miss for me but the clips from Taxi, Mister seemed very funny to me and they're certainly the highlight of this film so hopefully Turner Classic Movies will show that complete film at some point (as of this writing, I believe it's the only one that haven't shown). As far as this film goes, it's clearly very lazy because it just doesn't cut and paste scenes but the entire movie is a paste job. I'm really not sure what Roach was thinking but I guess some people might have forgotten that they had already seen these movies. The first half of the film has plenty of nice laughs but I found the stuff from the second film to be rather bland and boring. That film itself is rather disappointing so there's no shock that the stuff doesn't work here either. Alan Hale, Jr. and Max Baer appear.

Interesting... the title card for this film actually says Hal Roach Presents "Two Knights IN Brooklyn", but TCM.com and TV Guide.com have it listed as "Two Knights FROM Brooklyn". At the bottom of the same card, it says "Adapted from Taxi, Mister and The McGuerins from Brooklyn. It opens with William Bendix and Joe Sawyer as Eddie Corbett and Tim McGuerin, flashing back to see how they got their start as cab drivers. For a detailed plot summary, see that section of IMDb. Bendix always played the blue-collar, joe palooka type, mispronouncing words. Also in this compilation are Max Baer and Alan Hale Jr. Hale was the Skipper on Gilligan's Island, and Max Baer was the professional boxer, who appeared in several films, and was whose SON was Jethro Bodine on the Beverly Hillbillies. Also look for Sheldon Leonard, who wrote, directed, and produced about half the TV shows in the 1950s, 1960s & 1970s. He plays Louie Glorio, who runs the nightclub in town. Nothing really new here. I'd suggest watching the two original films from which is was made.