'Hard Work' is easy to watch

Hard Work (1928)
Starring: Wallace Lupino, Betty Boyd, and Jackie Levine

Director: Jules White

Rating: Eight of Ten Stars

A couple (Lupino and Boyd) and their young son (Levine) move into a fixer-upper... which they try to fix up with mostly disastrous results.

"Hard Work" features a small cast of actors who were either unseasoned (Betty Boyd) or who had never been expected to carry a film in starring roles (Wallace Lupino and Jackie Levine), but all three rise spectacularly to the task. It also features a simple plot (which is basically a streamlined version of what you'll find in Buster Keaton's "One Week" from 1920) that sets up disaster after disaster that are used to their fullest. Unless you are completely lacking in a sense of humor, you will find yourself laughing or smiling throughout most of this picture--even as you may be cringing at some of what unfolds. (I have had enough injuries and broken bones in my life that I could almost feel some of the punishment that Lupino's character is subjected to.)

This would be a Nine-star film if not for the weak gag that opens the film (the weakest in the entire picture, actually) and for the way it closes. The ending isn't bad exactly... it just feels a little flat.

I recommend you take a few minutes out of your day to sit back and enjoy this rare comedy gem by clicking on the embedded video below.