'It's a Cinch' is amusing but unremarkable... except for a really bizarre directorial choice

It's a Cinch (1932)
Starring: Monte Collins, Phyllis Crane, Tom O'Brien, and Richard Powell
Director: William B. Goodrich (aka Roscoe Arbuckle)
Rating: Five of Ten Stars

When a dance instructor (Collins) is tricked into facing a prize fighter (O'Brien) in the boxing ring, his girlfriend (Crane) devises a plan to turn the odds in his favor.

"It's a Cinch" is a mildly amusing short film with a fast-moving story performed by a pleasant but  unremarkable cast. They are, sadly, made even more unremarkable by the degraded state of the of the film the DVD transfer was made from. The sound quality is okay, but the picture is so washed out and blurry that I couldn't even capture a good image with which to illustrate this review. (Hence, the use of a head shot of actress Phyllis Crane.)

"It's a Cinch" is perhaps of greatest interest to modern viewers because it is the last film directed by Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. In 1921, he had been accused of rape by a woman who died before an investigation of her charges could even be properly begun, the prosecutor decided to link the two events and Arbuckle was tried for murder.

Although he was ultimately and emphatically found not guilty by a jury (so emphatically, in fact, that the jury felt obligated to issue a letter of apology to him with their verdict), Arbuckle's career was in ruins, because he had already been tried and convicted in the media. He could no longer get work as an actor, but he turned to directing under the pseudonym William B. Good. By the time work wrapped on "It's a Cinch", however, the murder trial was far enough in the past that Arbuckle's acting career began to revive and he stepped back in front of the camera.

Why am I rattling on about Roscoe Arbuckle? Because the only gripe I have about this picture leaves me wondering about the choices he made as a director.

"It's a Cinch" opens with a scene at the dance academy where the main character is an instructor that consists mostly of lingering shots of the dancers' chests and legs. Now, I don't usually have issues with cheesecake (as there is plenty of evidence for here and here), but those shots made me feel awkward, almost embarrassed, to be watching. What's more, these shots were completely out of tone with everything else that followed in the picture. In the final analysis, that opening scene almost made me knock the film down to a Four Out of Ten Star rating, but since the film was fun enough otherwise I held it to a low average rating. (I just wish I could figure out why someone thought that opening scene was a good idea... especially from a director who'd been accused of rape and who's pseudonym was Will B. Good. And my initial reaction wasn't even colored by that; it wasn't until I was starting this review that it registered who had directed the film.)

"It's a Cinch" is one of six short comedies included in the "Ultra-Rare Pre-Code Comedies Vol. 4" collection. The degraded quality of the original from which it was transferred is about the same as the others in the set--most have decent sound but awful picture--but this is a case where you get what you pay for. (Near as I can tell, this disc is also the first time these films have been available to the public for a long time.)

'Ticklish Business' is a snappy early talkie

Ticklish Business (1929)
Starring: Monte Collins, Vernon Dent, Addie McPhail, Phyllis Crane, and William Irving
Director: Stephen Roberts
Rating: Seven of Ten Stars

The psychotically jealous wife (Crane? McPhail?) of a would-be professional songwriter (Collins) would rather squash his career before it starts than risk him being around sexy chorus girls. Even if she has to kill him and the buddy (Dent) who's always encouraging him.

Phyllis Crane played the psycho wife in "Ticklish Business". Or did she?

"Ticklish Business" is a nearly forgotten film that was in the first wave of pictures made with sound in mind from start to finish. In it's ca. 20-minute running-time, it's got two songs, a musical number, a gag involving a piano, and lots of snappy dialogue. It also features remarkably naturalistic performances. I'm used to films from this period featuring a combination of the exaggerated physical acting of a silent picture and overly stilted, stagy delivery of the spoken lines, but with the exception of a couple reaction shots, neither is present here. In fact, the performances here would have been right at home in a sit-com from the 1970s or 1980s.

I think the only weak spot of "Ticklish Business" is that every attempt it tries at physical humor falls completely flat. While the physical routines weren't good to begin with, I suspect I may have viewed them in an even dimmer light, because during them, Collins and Dent reminded me of Laurel & Hardy, and they come up short by comparison.

"Ticklish Business" is one of six comedy short films found on the "Ultra-Rare Pre-Code Comedies Vol. 4" DVD from Alpha Video. Sadly, while it has a near crystal-clear soundtrack, the film from which the DVD transfer was made was degraded and blurry to the point where most faces of the actors are impossible to make out. This is why I am unsure of who played the jealous wife and who played the flapper chorus girl who rouses her wrath; they're both brunettes and their facial features are mostly blurred in the film. (I went looking online for a better copy of the film to view, but was unable to locate one. It appears that Alpha Video may well have made this film widely available for the first time in several decades.)