It's a pain for the butler, but you'll laugh while he suffers

Just a Pain the Parlor (1932)
Starring: Harry Sweet, Monte Collins, Cecil Cunningham, Billy Gilbert, and James Donlan
Director: George Marshall
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

A butler (Collins) must try to make an Olympic athlete, who is the very definition of a dumb jock (Sweet), presentable for a high society party.

"Just a Pain in the Parlor" is a silly little movie that runs 20 very fast minutes. It consists mostly of slapstick humor revolving around servants attempting to clean up a simple-minded houseguest so he be shown off at a can party being hosted by the snooty lady of the house (Cecil Cunningham). If you're a fan of Laurel & Hardy shorts, I think you'll like this one. As it was unfolding, I was put in mind of Hardy playing the beleagured butler and Laurel the dimwitted athlete. The only part that of this that didn't feel like a Laurel & Hardy film was the ending.

Since this isn't a Laurel & Hardy film, how did the actual performers do? Everyone did a fine job, and although the story and situation put me in mind of a Laurel & Hardy film, none of the performances did... well, almost none. Harry Sweet does a bit where he jumps up and gloms onto people who touch his tie that really put me in mind of Stan Laurel due to the rest of the film. One thing I particularly appreciated was the understated way Monte Collins behaved throughout the picture. He was mostly calm and steady and in control of himself (if not the situation he'd been thrust into), just like you'd expect a butler to be. Collins isn't the usual type of actor who played butlers in these kinds of comedies, but I think that made him even more effective as the film's only straight man.

The only negative with this movie is that the gags get repetative. I know comedy can be about repetion, but with "Just a Pain in the Parlor", they don't only milk some of the gags until dry, they salt them and smoke them and turn them into joke jerky. This problem is not severe enough to ruin the film, but it did keep me from giving it a Seven Rating.

Having fun with the creative set

How Comedies are Born (1931)
Starring: Harry Sweet,  Harry Gribbon, Tom Kennedy, Doris McMahon, Jill Dennett, and Bud Jamison
Director: Harry Sweet
Rating: Six of Ten Stars

Writers and actors get together for a brainstorming session, hoping to hatch the next hit movie.

"How Comedies are Born" is a fun little spoof of creative brainstorming sessions. Having been part of a number of these back when I was a full-time writer, I can attest to the fact that there's a lot of Truth here, even if its exaggerated for laughs. What there's also a lot of is gags, slapstick, and jokes revolving around beer--and beer-based slapstick routines--and snappy dialogue full of playful and not so playful insults. Some of the jokes were probably old even when this film was first released, but I think that was the point  of including them, so it's excusable. It all adds up to some very fun 18 minutes.

Unfortunately, in order to enjoy this film, you'll have to look past the awful quality of the print used for this DVD. It was plainly taken from a well-worn third- or four-generation (at least) videotaped copy--complete with the blurry image and static lines that come with that--and little or no effort was put into cleaning it up. I understand that distributor Alpha Video offers low-cost DVDs of old movies, so one can't except a lot of effort, but I still think it's a shame the picture quality isn't better.

"How Comedies are Born" is one of six short films included on "Ultra-Rare Pre-Code Comedies Vol. 4."