Hypnotized (1932)

Director:

Mack Sennett

Writers:

Felix Adler (writer)
Lewis R. Foster (writer)

Release Date:

25 December 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Plot:

A circus worker wins a sweepstakes prize of $150,000 and must travel to England to present his ticket and collect his winnings...

Plot Keywords:

Sweepstakes | Blackface | Hypnotism

Cast

George Moran	...	Henry Johnson
Charles Mack	...	Egbert Jackson
Ernest Torrence	...	Prof. Horace S. Limberly
Charles Murray	...	Charlie O'Brien (as Charlie Murray)
Wallace Ford	...	Bill Bogard
Maria Alba	...	Princess Mitzi
Marjorie Beebe	...	Pearl - the Maid
Herman Bing	...	Captain Von Stromberg
Alexander Carr	...	Abe Shapiro
Matt McHugh	...	Drummer
Luis Alberni	...	Consul
Harry Schultz	...	Ludwig - First Mate
Mitchell Harris	...	Ringmaster
Nona Mozelle	...	Captain's Girl Friend

Also Known As:

Little Gypsy (USA) (working title)

Runtime:

USA:58 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Sound Mix:

Mono

Filming Locations:

Mexico

Company:

Mack Sennett Comedies

Trivia:

The majority of the cast and crew from the film left Ensenada, Mexico, aboard the SS Emma Alexander on July 24, 1932, and arrived in Los Angeles, California, the same day, according to the ship's List of United States citizens. The ship's manifest lists them as "Movie Company" and contains 42 members of the cast and crew already identified as working on Hypnotized, including Mack Sennett, Hattie McDaniel, Marjorie Beebe, Wallace Ford, Spec O'Donnell and many others. Eleven persons are listed on the ship's papers who were with the cast/crew, but who have not yet been identified as having worked on the film.

Soundtrack:

Anywhere With You

You... Will... Not... See... This... Movie!

This movie has long had the reputation of being the worst comedy feature ever produced. I won't dispute that it *should* be the worst, but no record holds forever and Hollywood in the 1990s and 2000s has produced strong contenders for the title, if not outright record breakers.

We are, however, concerned with this movie, which is awful. First, it stars Mack & Moran, the Two Black Crows, blackface comedians who were wildly popularly in this period. They start out working for a carnival -- Moran disappears about a reel into the movie, which should improve it, but doesn't -- and wind up taking a ship across the ocean -- which ocean is never specified, nor should anyone care so long as they didn't come back -- where they are hypnotized by Ernest Torrence. You know they are hypnotized because they don't move. This is probably the funniest thing in the movie: a sequence where the lead comics do nothing.

This movie is a grave puzzlement: there is tremendous comic talent here, from the stars, through the supporting players down to people who have one line -- among them Herman Bing and Luis Alberni. It's simply that no one ever does anything that could be described as funny.

The coming of sound had put Mack Sennett, this film's producer and director, under severe financial strain strain. The depression had made things worse and this feature sank him. After this, he made his W.C. Fields shorts, including THE FATAL GLASS OF BEER, which everyone thought were even worse than this, and then basically retired against his will to write his memoirs.