See America Thirst (1930)

Director:

William James Craft

Writers:

Jerry Horwin
Edward Ludwig
(more)

Release Date:

23 November 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

Two men, one timid and one aggressive, make out as comical criminals. |

Cast

Harry Langdon	...	Wally
Slim Summerville	...	Slim
Bessie Love	...	Ellen
Mitchell Lewis	...	Screwy O'Toole
Matthew Betz	...	Insect McGann
Stanley Fields	...	Spumoni
Lloyd Whitlock	...	O'Toole's Henchman
Richard Alexander	...	McGann's Henchman
Tom Kennedy	...	'Shivering' Smith
Lew Hearn	...	Inventor
LeRoy Mason	...	Attorney
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Walter Brennan	...	Spumoni Bodyguard (uncredited)
Franklyn Farnum	...	Master of Ceremonies (uncredited)
Pat Harmon	...	Waiter (uncredited)
Tom London	...	Spumoni Hood (uncredited)
Robert McKenzie	...	Waiter / Sign Changer (uncredited)
Hal Price	...	Cop (uncredited)

Directed by
William James Craft

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Jerry Horwin		(as C. Jerome Horwin)
Edward Ludwig		(as Edward I. Luddy)
Vin Moore

Original Music by
Sam Perry		(silent version) (uncredited)
Heinz Roemheld		(silent version) (uncredited)

Cinematography by
Arthur C. Miller

Film Editing by
Harry W. Lieb

Other crew
Carl Laemmle	....	presenter

Production Companies

• Universal Pictures

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1930) (USA) (theatrical)

Also Known As:

Runtime:

75 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:(Banned) (1931)

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

UCLA Film Archives has a viewable print of this film.

Hokey hooch ha-has

I wish this movie was as funny as its title. During the Prohibition era, any joke about booze was a sure-fire laugh-getter ... in the same way that 1970s movies got an easy laugh out of marijuana. From our perspective, most of this movie's jokes about bathtub hooch aren't funny.

Harry Langdon and Slim Summerville play a couple of schlubsters who get mistaken for bootleggers. They tangle with a gang of thieves, eventually ending up dangling from the roof of a Manhattan skyscraper. (This scene would be funnier if the fakery was better: it's far too obvious that Langdon and Summerville are never in danger.) Eventually the real bootleggers show up. The head gangster's moll (played by Bessie Love) is so dewy-eyed and virginal, it just doesn't seem possible for her to be in love with a gangster ... so we're not the least bit surprised to learn she's working undercover for the D.A.

The funniest performance in this film is by Matthew Betz, a balding red-headed runt of a character actor who never got the roles he deserved. Here, he plays a snarling little thug named Insect McGann. As one of the bootleggers, Tom Kennedy blusters and bumbles but fails to project the necessary menace to make his role funny. Lew Hearn is briefly amusing in a bit role.

Most of the people here have done better work elsewhere. One exception is the director, William James Craft, whom I've never previously heard of. I suspect that "See America Thirst" is his best movie.