The evil Dr. Wong (essayed with lip-smacking sinister panache by Val Durand) abducts prominent scientist Professor Edwin Millstone (solid Wilfred Lucas). Blundering bank guards Monte Collins and Tom Kennedy search through Chinatown to find Dr. Wong and rescue the professor. Director Del Lord maintains a zippy pace throughout and pitches the wacky humor at an amusingly broad level. This cheerfully inane romp reaches its gut-busting peak in an alley way sequence in which our two nitwit protagonists meow like cats. Moreover, a monstrous apeman runs amok in the last reel and further adds to the infectiously goofy hilarity. Collins and Kennedy make for an amiably bumbling duo, with nice support from Phyllis Crane as Professor Millstone's fetching daughter. Both the jaunty, merry score and Benjamin H. Kline's crisp black and white cinematography are up to speed. Granted, this comic short sure ain't subtle or sophisticated in its buffoonish humor, but it's still a delightfully silly hoot just the same.
Review of Midnight Blunders
