Hairdressers Thelma and Patsy are invited to a highbrow party, where they, of course, wreck havoc. The always welcome Billy Gilbert shows up as a European count and Don Barclay, who is so good in "Honky Donkey", makes an appearance as a stuffy servant. The premise is predicable and there aren't any big laughs, but the film moves pretty quickly and Thelma and Patsy have good energy and work well together. This is the kind of situation which was handled better by the Marx Brothers or the Three Stooges. It is easy to see that Thelma is playing a part meant for Oliver Hardy and Patsy is playing Stan Laurel's part. The short may have worked better with Stan and Ollie, but the typical Hal Roach gags and the Leroy Shield background music make this short very pleasant.
3 Reviews
Why do I torture myself by watching films like this?!
planktonrules6 September 2010
Warning: Spoilers
Be advised from the onset that I don't particularly like Patsy Kelly-Thelma Todd films. They were definitely the third-string comedy team at Roach Studios and their scripts were usually far below the quality of Laurel & Hardy or Our Gang films (which were also made by Roach). Previously Todd had been paired with Zasu Pitts (which was pretty bad) but now with Kelly (whose main claim to fame was having a loud...very, very loud...Brooklyn accent) the films took an even worse turn--at least in my opinion.
Patsy and Thelma are working at a swanky beauty parlor. They are mistakenly invited to a fancy society party to meet some Count (their perennial co-star, Billy Gilbert) and as you'd expect, they seem to make a muddle of things--mostly because Patsy behaves rather boorishly. Much of the humor is along the lines of the Three Stooges, but with considerably less energy. You know it's pretty bad stuff when the 'big gag' involves a mechanical mouse that is somehow mistaken for the real thing...even though it looks absolutely nothing like the live version. Fortunately, the film manage to end fairly well, though.
Aside from disliking the movie intensely, I had to ask myself why I have continued watching Todd-Kelly movies since I have disliked almost all of them! Well, I honestly don't know! My advice to you is try to watch the Laurel & Hardy films first...then maybe the Charley Chase shorts from Roach...and then the Our Gang comedies. And then, if there is nothing else left, then try the Kelly-Todd films!
Patsy and Thelma are working at a swanky beauty parlor. They are mistakenly invited to a fancy society party to meet some Count (their perennial co-star, Billy Gilbert) and as you'd expect, they seem to make a muddle of things--mostly because Patsy behaves rather boorishly. Much of the humor is along the lines of the Three Stooges, but with considerably less energy. You know it's pretty bad stuff when the 'big gag' involves a mechanical mouse that is somehow mistaken for the real thing...even though it looks absolutely nothing like the live version. Fortunately, the film manage to end fairly well, though.
Aside from disliking the movie intensely, I had to ask myself why I have continued watching Todd-Kelly movies since I have disliked almost all of them! Well, I honestly don't know! My advice to you is try to watch the Laurel & Hardy films first...then maybe the Charley Chase shorts from Roach...and then the Our Gang comedies. And then, if there is nothing else left, then try the Kelly-Todd films!
Todd + Kelly
Michael_Elliott11 June 2009
Soup and Fish (1934)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Pleasant Hal Roach short features Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly as two hairdressers who accidentally get invited to a high class party. Once there Kelly pulls out various gags, which aren't going over too well with anyone and especially Todd. This is a fairly good short that doesn't have any laugh out loud moments but there are still some smaller laughs and plenty of charm. Billy Gilbert steals the film as a European count who quickly begins to enjoy Kelly's style of comedy and even tries some himself. The scene where he has Todd touch his cheek isn't anything hysterical but Gilbert's delivery is just priceless. The film's biggest problem is that there doesn't seem to have been too much effort put into it. I think they delivered a decent enough of a film but there never seem to be any moments where they tried to do something extra special. One could argue this was a throw away Laurel and Hardy script as it's obvious you could have fit them two into the Todd/Kelly roles.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Pleasant Hal Roach short features Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly as two hairdressers who accidentally get invited to a high class party. Once there Kelly pulls out various gags, which aren't going over too well with anyone and especially Todd. This is a fairly good short that doesn't have any laugh out loud moments but there are still some smaller laughs and plenty of charm. Billy Gilbert steals the film as a European count who quickly begins to enjoy Kelly's style of comedy and even tries some himself. The scene where he has Todd touch his cheek isn't anything hysterical but Gilbert's delivery is just priceless. The film's biggest problem is that there doesn't seem to have been too much effort put into it. I think they delivered a decent enough of a film but there never seem to be any moments where they tried to do something extra special. One could argue this was a throw away Laurel and Hardy script as it's obvious you could have fit them two into the Todd/Kelly roles.
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