Bien faire... et la séduire

A bumbling sanitation worker can't seem to hold a job or his girl, so she gets him a job as a door-to-door Fuller Brush salesman. But can he with his madcap ways hold on to it, and just as importantly win his girl away from his slickster competition.

I hope Red and Janet got extra pay for all those stunts they do at the bang-up climax. In fact, the 15-minutes of non-stop acrobatics may set a slapstick Hollywood record. I really liked the first part where the bumbling Red goes door to door trying to sell his Fuller brushes. The comedic potential of Red and behind-the-door surprises promises a comedic gold mine. However, the screenplay soon transitions into a murder mystery and from there into a lengthy chase ending in a war surplus warehouse and a wildly acrobatic finale. Of course, there's a lot of funny stuff in the latter two, but still there's little chance to catch your breath between stunts. Piling stunts on like that, to me, lessens the chance of enjoying particularly funny ones. My guess is that ex-Disney cartoonist Frank Tashlin was behind these bouncing, swinging, belly-flop antics. They seem right up his alley.

Anyway, Red proves one of the liveliest comics around, while Blair does a lot more than stand around looking pretty. Still, I'm wondering if Columbia owed sexy blonde vixen Jergens a payday since she sort of drops in and out but still leaves her vampish mark. All in all, it's a funny, if at times over-done, Skelton feature. He's at his peak during this period and there's nobody quite like him, so stay tuned. It may not be his best comedy, but it's sure to tease the funny bone in his inimitable style.

Even if your not a fan of slap stick or Skeleton's trademark corn this movie captures the best of Skelton in a great comedy. This movie launched his entry into TV and his series still ranks as one of the longest lived. Critics of the show would pan Skelton's unabashed corn, but the Fuller Brush Man was a classic comedy, done as well as your average Marx Brother's work. If you had to pick one Skeleton movie as his best, this is the one.

The movie begins with Red's complete failures in life and love. Unlike many of his movies and later TV roles, this movie show Skeleton as an actor who could show the pathos of his character. As a fuller brush salesman (a common fixture in the 40's and 50's), the occupation fits perfectly with Red's character as the proverbial pesty door to door salesman. Well on his way to another failure in life, Red gets involved in a murder that seems funnier and more convincing than his previous roles as a slap stick detective. The scenes in the WWII surplus wharehouse are both funny and extraordinarily well done. No computer generated action scenes, just excellent stunt work. If you like happy and funny endings, this movie will not disappoint.

Red Skelton could entertain you just with his funny faces, clown like slap-stick pratfalls and knock=about comedy. He was at his best in this fast-action b/w feature that also had in a role as a henchman, great little stunt man, Dave Sharpe. (Watch the wonderful knocks and tumbles during the chase and fight scenes at the end..)And who indeed is the killer of this murder-mystery plot woven into the gags and bang-up routines? Many of the younger movie fans today will understand why Red was a favorite of so many back in the 4O's movies and then later on radio and then on TV,after viewing this one...

Red Skelton can't keep a job. He's fired from his latest as a street cleaner when he runs his trash can into the commissioner's car. But Janet Blair loves him. She gets him a job as a salesman for a local Fuller Brush distributor. The usual comic situations ensue, and eventually a serious plot that will enable Red to become a hero and get the girl.

Red seems to be on loan to Columbia, where his best director, S. S.ylvan Simon was in charge. Keaton was still at Metro, but there's an able gag man in Frank Tashlin to help lift characters and situations from Skelton's radio show.

The Fuller Brush company was vastly successful with its network of salesmen and superior product. But when women started heading for the offices instead of homemaking, it shifted gears and is currently under a private conglomerate, but still operating.

The opening scenes of "The Fuller Brush Man" are hardly promising: Red Skelton, playing a ne'er-do-well who can't hold a job, hopes to impress his lady-love with his skills as a door-to-door salesman, not knowing that he's been sent to the worst neighborhood in town by his adversary, his gal's other boyfriend. Seeing charming Skelton (with his happy chatter and lilting walk) being set-up as a chump is awfully sour, and the slapstick chaos which ensues isn't funny as a result. Thankfully, writer Frank Tashlin quickly gets off this baleful track, turning the proceedings instead into a comedic murder mystery, with Red one of the suspects in the killing of his former boss. The new plot thread--while neither original nor ingenious--does allow Skelton lots of funny business as an actor, with Janet Blair the perfect counterpart to Red's unintentional hero. The wild, free-for-all finale in a warehouse has staging and stunt-work as good as anything from the silent era, if not better. No wonder this was a box-office smash in 1948--it leaves the audience with a succession of happy highs. Followed two years later by "The Fuller Brush Girl". *** from ****