Tall, Dark and Gruesome (1948) User Reviews

A weekend in the country isn't the peace and quiet they planned on.

[mark.waltz · 7/10 · 10 October 2023]

It's obvious that the teaming of Hugh Herbert and Dudley Dickerson in this short is a pastiche of the type of comedy that the team of Jack Benny and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson had been doing on radio and in the movies (and would continue with on television) for years. Hugh's a playwright working on a mystery and he can't get anything done in the city due to street noise, so they haul it out to the country and end up stalked by a loose gorilla. People trying to find a costume party stop by so there's a few spooky laughs, especially when the partyers find out that the gorilla isn't a man in a suit. Plenty of slapstick so there's lots of laughs. Definitely one for the kiddies, that is if they have a 1940's style of humor appreciation.

A Great Columbia Comedy Short That Outshines The Stooges!!

[LightsCameraAction1 · 10/10 · 30 March 2012]

Due to incessant noises outside his apartment, mystery writer Hugh Sherlock (Hugh Herbert) can't finish the script for his play. His good-natured assistant Dudley (Dudley Dickerson), tries to help, but only succeeds in adding to the confusion. Hugh receives a call from Charlie HUNTER (!!), informing him that he was invited to use the house belonging to a mutual friend, which Sherlock accepts. Once at the house, a large crate arrives; Dudley tells the delivery men to place the crate in the library, and then wonders about the contents. Hugh tells him that it doesn't matter, because it doesn't belong to them. We then see the contents, as the door swings open, and our eyes behold an extremely fierce gorilla, which hilariously terrifies them throughout the short. Adding to the hilarity are three lost individuals who show up at the door of the house (adding to Dudley's terror), dressed in masquerade costumes. I'll leave the rest of the short for your viewing pleasure, and which may be viewed on you tube. Enjoy this classic which will have you howling with laughter!!

Tall, Dark and Gruesome has some good gags but gets too frantic to be very funny

[tavm · 5/10 · 16 September 2009]

I just watched this rare Columbia short comedy on YouTube. It stars Hugh Herbert and Dudley Dickerson as a playwright and butler, respectively. Written by comedy stylist Clyde Bruckman and directed by Del Lord, Tall, Dark and Gruesome has some funny gags when they're in an apartment with Herbert trying to write while riveters are on the street below (which sound like bullets which is suitable since he's a mystery author) and he's wearing earmuffs then we switch to a cabin with a gorilla being delivered and things go downhill from there especially with too much of everyone getting scared (especially Dickerson who's playing the typical black stereotype of the time of the race being a fearful bunch). And there's not really much of a point of having people in costume mixed up in this. So, in summation, Tall, Dark and Gruesome is a bit too frantic for its own good.