Hot Heir (1947) User Reviews

One of the better Herbert shorts.

[therealkylemcelravy · 6/10 · 29 February 2016]

Hugh receives a telegram from his rich uncle Newton explaining he is coming for a visit, which excites him, but things go from bad to worse when he is caught in a compromising position with a female neighbor, Hugh's wife, and the neighbor's husband. Hugh is then forced to fix the situation before uncle Newton arrives.

This was the last Herbert short directed by Edward Bernds, due to a falling-out behind the scenes stating that Herbert didn't give it his best. Herbert had been a popular supporting comic actor in the 1930s at Warner Bros., Universal, and several other studios. His forte was dialogue humor, not slapstick. Shortly after, producer Hugh McCollum had brought back veteran director Del Lord to helm the Herbert comedies produced for the unit, although Bernds would write a later Herbert short, TROUBLE IN-LAWS directed by McCollum. Bernds would remake HOT HEIR with the Stooges as GENTS IN A JAM, which would be the final short for Bernds when he left the studio when Jules White fired McCollum.

Mrs. Errol temporarily becomes Mrs. Herbert.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 10 October 2023]

Already known as Leon Errol's wife in a long series of RKO shorts (or at least one of them), Dorothy Granger becomes Hugh Herbert's wife on a loan to Columbia. Herbert's expecting a visit from a rich uncle, but visits from a female neighbor and later her jealous husband threatens to disrupt the possibility that Hugh might be getting a bequest. There's confusion with the neighbor thinking that Hugh's entertaining another woman (never suspecting who), and as usual the typical bits of wacky, woo hoo'ing farce follows. Christine McIntyre and Dick Wessel are very funny as the neighbors, and while the situation is absolutely absurd it adds some laughs, especially a twist involving the wife's robe that McIntyre ended up wearing.