Once Over Lightly

Billy Gilbert is the president of Clipton Barber College and they've been challenged to a shaving tournament by their rivals. It looks bad for old Clipton, but star pupil Johnny Downs has a secret weapon which could bring in victory for dear old Clipton.

The considerable talents of Gilbert are working on 8 cylinders to put this short subject over. They include Italian double talk and the most exaggerated sneeze in the history of cinema.

It's an OK short, nothing more.

At Clipton Barber College, Professor Kapouris (Billy Gilbert) is developing a new depilatory cream. He's also the coach of the school shaving team as they take on rival school Beardsley. The shaving competition takes place in the fully packed football stadium like a football game.

The wacky competition concept is a little fun. It's cute for about two minutes. Sure, this short is not even twenty minutes. Still, two good minutes are not enough when the rest is a bore. The comedy is not funny. I'm not interested in the test drama. The romance isn't anything. Somebody had a weird idea after watching football.

Even Billy Gilbert cannot shave -- I mean save -- this musical comedy about a rivalry between two barbers' colleges run like a football game. It looks as though the editor thought it was funnier than it was and ran the reaction shots longer than needed, resulting in slow pacing and annoying gaps.

Billy is in full cry doing Italian double talk AND a bit of his famous sneezing routine. If they had just kept the camera on him and left out the reaction shots entirely, it might have worked better. Indeed, it looks like the dp was trying to get out of the short subject department using inappropriately dramatic shots to demonstrate his brilliance.

This very atypical MGM short was probably an attempt to fill in the gap left by Hal Roach's exit from short subject production. Alas, MGM never produced much in the way of funny shorts, the Robert Benchley lectures aside.