Earthworm Tractors

The world premier of this movie was held in Peoria Illinois in 1936. Peoria is the home of Caterpillar tractor company on which the Earthworm tractor was loosely based. The movie referred to Peoria being the base for Earthworm Tractor Co. Joe E. Brown attended the premier and the street in front of the Madison theater was packed. It was also one of the hottest nights of the season.

"Earthworm Tractors" is a very good 30's-style comedy, with pleasantly silly main characters and a story designed to set up some good comic sequences. It's the kind of movie that can easily come out badly if not done with some skill, but this one is done nicely and it works.

Joe E. Brown plays Alexander Botts, a self-described born salesman and master mechanic, whose real talent is for getting in over his head. His attempts to make a big sale of tractors to grumpy, old-fashioned lumberman Johnson (Guy Kibbee) lead him into one disaster after another. Much of it is stock humor, but it is pleasantly done, and there are some particularly funny sequences of the tractor rampaging out of control. Kibbee and Brown are both good, giving deliberately exaggerated performances that work well. It's mostly a two-man show, but the rest of the cast does well when called on.

Anyone who likes comedies of the era should enjoy this film. It's very pleasant, and at times is hilarious.

Earthworm Tractors is the name of the product that Joe E. Brown is hired to sell. Of course it would be helpful if he actually knew the product. But things like lack of knowledge stopped the bragadocious Brown before in this or any other film.

Brown gets assigned a territory where his biggest potential customer is the cranky, cantankerous Guy Kibbee who is a wee bit deaf. Kibbee owns the biggest lumber company in the area and it's a big commission at stake. His daughter June Travis is pulling for Joe, but Kibbee is a hard sell.

This is one of Joe E. Brown's best comedies for Warner Brothers in the 30s. Two really great scenes are in this showing Brown's comedic ability to great advantage. The first is Brown moving the Kibbee/Travis house with them inside. The second is Brown and Kibbee on a wild rollercoaster like ride on the tractor over a mountain which is being dynamited. I guarantee the laughs will be many.

Earthworm Tractors still holds up well from the Depression 30s and still has a lot of laughs. A must for Joe E. Brown fans.

Joe E. Brown was the star of some of these short films produced by Warner Bros. Mr. Brown was an excellent comedy actor, as can be appreciated in "Earthworm Tractors". The film relies on its star to be the center of the action in this funny movie that shows Mr. Brown's talents under the direction of Ray Enright.

The film has some amazing sequences that makes the viewer wonder how were they executed because in those days the special effects technology wasn't that much developed. The first one involves Alexander Botts (Joe E. Brown) give the prospective client, Sam Johnson (Guy Kibbee) a demonstration and we watch the tractor practically destroy everything in sight! The second one is at the end of the film and again, Alexander takes the scared Mr. Johnson to a place where dynamite is being used to clear the area and we watch in disbelief how Botts make it through a suspended bridge that keeps shedding its base as he goes up, an amazing feat for 1936.

Joe E. Brown gives an incredible performance. The supporting cast, June Travis, Guy Kibbee, Charles Wilson, Carol Hughes and Dick Foran, among others, are also good.

Catch it whenever is shown on cable. It's always a pleasure to see Joe E. Brown on the screen.

I gotta say it up front that I am not a huge fan of Joe E. Brown's films. Much of the reason is that in many of his films he often plays unlikable guys--real fat-heads (such as in one of his most famous films, "Alibi Ike"). Audiences in the 1930s loved his films, but I've never had much love for them. Imagine, then, to my surprise when I saw a minor Brown outing and actually liked it! This was even more surprising, as for some odd reason Warner Brothers didn't even bother renewing the copyright on "Earthworm Tractors" and allowed it to slip into the public domain! You'd assume in a case like this that the film was a real dog!

The film begins with Brown playing a guy who wants to marry his sweetheart, though her father can't stand him. To impress the Old Man, he decides to get a salesman job--though since he is a bit daft, you know the road will be a bit bumpy to say the least! When he approaches the Earthworm Tractor Company, they do not hire him, but Brown starts working as a representative for them anyway! He certainly isn't a salesman who takes 'no' for an answer! Along the way, he meets another nice young lady who he falls in love with--but what about his other girl? And, in a case of déjà vu, the new girl's father (Guy Kibbee) also doesn't particularly like Brown---but he's also a rich guy who NEEDS a tractor--or so his daughter thinks.

The film succeeds, I think, because Brown is more likable. Sure, he's still a bit of the usual rube but this time he's NOT selfish and overconfident--at least no where nearly like many of his other films ("Fireman Save My Child" comes to mind here). In addition, the stunts are amazingly good for a 1930s comedy--and a heck of a lot better for the craptastic stunts he'd soon have in his films by the David Loew's studio--which was a major career misstep in hindsight. Likable and pleasant--while not a great comedy, there is a lot to like and it's a nice change of pace.