Done in Oil

Done in oil (1934)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Funny Hal Roach short has Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly playing roommates who are about to be thrown out of their apartment unless they can come up with rent within a couple days. A drunk decides to try and sell some of Thelma's paintings by making her pretend to be French. Soon three men from the art galleries come by and nothing goes as planned. This isn't the best short in the Todd-Kelly series but there are enough laughs to make it worth viewing if you're a fan of the series. The politically incorrect police would have a field day with this short but while the stuff with make you cringe I must admit that it also made me laugh. I guess it's rather silly to say something made you cringe but laugh at the same time but I've come to except the fact that this type of "humor" was found to be okay in 1934. The offensive side of the story has the three men wanting to meet the "Southern cook" so this causes Kelly to dress in blackface and come up acting in various stereotypes. Yes, this isn't done in good taste by today's standards but there's no question that Kelly gives it her all and manages to be rather funny through it all. Todd also manages to get a few laughs as she tries to be French and Arthur Housman plays the drunk fairly well. The movie is going to offend quite a few people not only for the blackface stuff but there are jokes aimed at the French and Indians as well. If you're able to not take this stuff too serious you should have a good time.

Ooh la la!!!!!!

Oh, my lord. Oh, my goodness gracious. Uh.... Where do I begin? Uh....

Okay.

Now... I know some o' y'all prefer your Marilyns, some prefer your Cagneys and Bogarts, some can't live without your Mansfields or Brigittes, or your Fondas or Gables, or even your Ronald Reagans.

What I see before me when this short is on is a vision.... A plethora of colors, a dazzling cornucopia of numerous tints and hues, with a marvelous use of both light and shade. This beautiful chiaroscuro masterpiece is one breathtaking panorama, if you do ask me, you kooky film buffs out there. A more picturesque tableau I have never seen in monochrome. If you thought "Ecstasy" with Hedy Lamarr was a hot tamale... Holy jalapenos! Is it a work of art? It sure is!

So what if Mademoiselle Kelly just happens to have a scene in it where she's in blackface, playing a southern mammy named Magnolia? Rather than dance the cakewalk, she shuffles off to the kitchen with goo stuck to her shoe, which is stuck to a palette.

Arthur Houseman is around for more extra goofy stuff. Is he under the influence? Uh, yes, he is. Clearly, as he often always is. Thelma is a starving artist trying to impress these three French art collectors that her studio is among the best. Giant sugar cube Kelly seems to be the only person what's patient enough to pose for her portraits. Then Kelly throws on a French maid outfit, and I'm just like melted Jell-O at this point.

I recently got an email from an IMDb user who disagreed with my negative opinion about Patsy Kelly. In many IMDb reviews, I have described her as one of the most unfunny and obnoxious "comediennes" in film history and I WISH I had seen DONE IN OIL before I responded to this user--this would have clearly proved my point! Yes, this comedy short is THAT bad. Not only is the entire thing unfunny, but towards the end it even made me cringe--as Kelly appeared in black-face dressed like a very, very stereotypical black servant. While this sort of characterization was more acceptable back in 1934, it still wasn't funny--regardless of how offensive it was.

By the way, in the scene where Kelly is painting a picture, if you watch carefully, you'll see that the picture keeps changing due to very, very sloppy editing. She'd paint something and then only seconds later, a DIFFERENT painting was shown. This happened again and again.

Sloppy, tasteless and unfunny. What a waste of time!

"Done in Oil" (1934) is a pretty funny Thelma Todd/Patsy Kelly entry in which Thelma tries to pass herself off as a French artist with Patsy gumming things up for her pal as usual. There is a lot of uninhibited '30's humor which may not be up to today's PC standards, but it was another era and they were able to get away with it. Adding to the shenanigans is the hilarious Arthur Housman doing his trademark drunk character. Housman was a regular on the Hal Roach lot and appeared in several Todd/Kelly shorts. TCM runs these from time to time, and anyone who is a fan of the delightful Thelma Todd (like me) will want to check this one out. She was a true beauty as well as a seasoned comedienne, appearing with comic greats Laurel and Hardy, Charlie Chase, Buster Keaton, Wheeler and Woolsey and The Marx Brothers. It's good to see so much of her work becoming more readily available.