Lime Juice Nights

During the early 1930s, Karl Dane and George Arthur were paired together for a short series of comedies. "Lime Juice Nights" is the final of the six films they made in this series. And based on what I saw here, I can see why they never really caught on as a comedy duo. Much of it is simply they didn't have much in the way of a script.

The story begins in a London nightclub. The nightclub is the setting for the first half of the film and there isn't much story...just lots of little vignettes which are supposed to be funny but which aren't. Later, only two guests remain at the club, a drunk guy (Dane) and his wife. But the drunk won't go home and the waiter (Arthut) cannot get him to budge. Soon the wife leaves and on the way out, she stops two guys and offers to pay them to make sure her husband gets home to bed. And, to know which guy is her husband, she tells the guys to grab the guy wearing the fancy tux. But in the meantime, the drunk and the waiter exchange clothes (which really makes no sense) and they begin drinking heavily. Soon the guys grab the wrong guy and hilarity ensues....or at least it should.

The biggest problem is that this short has situations but never manages to make much of them. The only time I came close to laughing was at the very end when the drunk leaves his wife and the waiter together in the guest bedroom. Otherwise, it's all situations and no laughs to be found.

Karl Dane is in London celebrating with wife Vivien Oakland. George K. Arthur is the waiter tasked with getting him to pay his bill after everyone else has gone home. Dane gets Arthur drunk, and they switch clothes, so the two men tasked by Miss Oakland with bringing Dane home, bring Arthur instead.

It's not very good, even though it has some practiced and usually funny performers, like Irving Bacon and Charlie Hall among the cast. The opening is chaotic, showing us everyone but the two leads, and Dane's participation is kept to a minimum. Although he and Arthur had become popular in a string of MGM comedy appearances during the silent era, his command of English was very poor, and it shows here, in a badly set-up comedy.