I Dood It (1943) User Reviews

"I'm so crazy about you I'm crazy."

[utgard14 · 5/10 · 10 August 2016]

Red Skelton musical comedy that also happens to be Eleanor Powell's final leading role at MGM. Skelton plays a loser totally obsessed with an actress (Powell). He achieves every stalker's dream and becomes engaged to her because she thinks he's someone else and wants to make her ex jealous. For Skelton fans, he doesn't have any particularly memorable bits here. Most of the better stuff is ripped off from an old Buster Keaton movie. Not even Keaton's best material, either. The highlights of the movie revolve around Eleanor Powell, including a classic lasso dancing number near the beginning of the film. Her other numbers are clips from Honolulu and Born to Dance. Also some nice musical numbers from Lena Horne and Hazel Scott.

It's a watchable movie but nothing special. The comedy is especially weak. And what was with that tacked-on Nazi saboteur plot? I would suggest watching the first ten minutes or so for the Powell number and then fast-forwarding to whenever you see someone singing or dancing. The rest is nothing to bother with.

The parts are greater than the sum

[wmss-770-394192 · 5/10 · 31 March 2014]

This is a film in which the parts are definitely greater than the sum. I understand it was a remake of a Buster Keaton silent feature,so the slapstick is pretty funny. Also entertaining are Miss Powell's dance numbers (even if two of them were lifted from previous films) and the musical numbers by Hazel Scott and Lena Horne. Red Skelton is his usual bumbling, confused,but lovable self. But the film as a whole is just goofy. Besides the whole "mistaken identity" plot,there is a subplot about Nazi saboteurs,which is just stupid and some really bad spoof of "Gone With the Wind" as the play that Powell's character is starring in. I guess that during wartime, anything light hearted was quickly put together and rushed into theaters as a diversion. This film looks it.

An enjoyable if uneven film

[AlsExGal · 7/10 · 24 October 2009]

This movie has lots to enjoy - great wartime entertainment by some of the big names in music at that time, good if recycled comedy, and great dancing by Eleanor Powell. However, its main problem is all of what I just mentioned. It can never seem to figure out if it is a romantic comedy, a musical, or a movie about wartime sabotage, but it does grow on you.

The comedy is mainly recycled from Buster Keaton's last silent film, "Spite Marriage", and in fact Buster was a gag writer on this film and most of Red's other movies for MGM. Here Red Skelton plays Joe Reynolds, reprising Buster's part as a worker in a laundry enamored with stage actress Constance Shaw (Eleanor Powell). He manages to show up at the same places Shaw shows up at by borrowing his customers' formal attire. Just like in the original, the leading lady is jealous of her leading man because he is romancing someone else - a potential backer for a show. Shaw marries Joe without knowing or caring what he does for a living, and there is the repeat of the "putting the unconscious bride to bed" scene that there was in Spite Marriage. When the day after the wedding she learns he does not in fact own gold mines but is a "pants presser" the newlyweds separate, at least for awhile. The situation in which Joe plays the hero here has to do with a plan to blow up a munitions storehouse next door to the theater where Constance Shaw is working. "Spite Marriage" had seafaring bootlegging gangsters as villains, which, of course, would have made no sense in 1943.

There are some great numbers by Powell if you are a fan of her dancing - I am. The disappointing part is that a couple of the numbers are lifted from other films. The finale is lifted from 1936's "Born To Dance" and there is another number that was shot for the film "Honolulu". Part of the reason for this is that the lasso number towards the beginning of the film was so difficult that Miss Powell knocked herself unconscious while performing it, and thus other numbers were substituted for the originals planned.

Finally there are some great musical numbers by the Dorseys and "Jericho" performed by Lena Horne.

Powell Steals the Show

[dougdoepke · 3 July 2016]

I hope they paid Powell triple. That rope dance she does is maybe the most demanding gauntlet of timing I've seen in years of viewing. I'm not surprised the rehearsal for it "knocked herself out cold", (IMDB). Then too, she's got the movie's comedic highpoint where Skelton has to bend her upside down and sideways while she's knocked out with sleeping pills. And catch that climactic top-like spin in front of the mock battleship that had me dizzy for a week. To me, the movie's really her showcase. On the other hand, Red's routines pick up slapstick momentum toward the end, but the first part has him do little more than wear a goofy grin. As a Skelton fan, I don't think it's the comedian's best showcase.

On the whole, the 100-minutes amounts to a rather unwieldy package, with a few over-stretched routines and an awkward Nazi subplot. But then this is 1943 and everybody's got to do their part. Note, for example, how class differences—a pants presser vs. a Broadway star—are overcome, while Blacks are presented in a non- demeaning way. It's like we've all got to pull together to defeat the Axis. And catch that last sequence where Red battles the Nazi Hodiak. Judging from the screen environs, I'll bet it was filmed in MGM's prop room with the lifts, props and catwalks all doing their part.

Overall-- as another reviewer points out—it's more a movie of parts than a whole. But some of those parts are fairly memorable. Most of all, however, hats off to the fearless Elinor Powell.

Come for Red Skelton, Stay for Eleanor Powell, Lena Horne, and Hazel Scott

[bbrebozo · 7/10 · 5 September 2017]

I generally find Red Skelton films entertaining, so I poured a glass of wine and tee'd up "I Dood It" on a quiet Sunday afternoon.

Red Skelton was his usual great. I understand that Buster Keaton was his coach for some of the slapstick, and it showed. But one genius plus one genius equals some great comedy, so that was okay with me.

However, I was really blown away by three performers I didn't know very well. Eleanor Powell was a fine actress and a fantastic dancer. Check out her lasso dance near the beginning of the film. Absolutely amazing! And then later in the film comes Hazel Scott, a phenomenal jazz pianist who I'd never heard before. Then shortly thereafter we have Lena Horne in her powerful "Jericho" number. Those scenes alone make the movie worth spending a little time on.

There were a lot of musical numbers, too many in fact, and I have to admit I fast forwarded through the more tedious of them. And the plot was -- as many people have mentioned -- disjointed and illogical. But there's enough gold in this film to make it an enjoyable, although certainly not classic, movie event.

Silly comedy enlivened by some glittering production numbers...

[Doylenf · 6/10 · 7 January 2011]

You have to be a die-hard RED SKELTON fan to approve of his slapstick performance in I DOOD IT, but some of his routines just fall flat. He and ELEANOR POWELL have to deal with a less than spectacular script in which he's mistaken for a wealthy man when he's actually a pants presser. The gags that follow are weak, for the most part, but occasionally some bright bits of humor do crop up along the way.

For comic timing, nothing beats the scene where Powell takes the sleep medicine by mistake and Skelton is unable to wake her up to either put her in a chair or on a bed. Her limber body provides a lot of chuckles as he struggles to get her off the floor. The timing by both is impeccable and it's one of the film's best routines.

Too bad her dance numbers aren't staged as well as that sequence which runs a little too long. They're serviceable, but that's about all.

Jimmy Dorsey and his orchestra play some nice tunes, best of which is "Star Eyes" sung by Bob Eberly and Helen O'Connell. An "audition" scene featuring Hazel Scott at the piano and Lena Horne as vocalist on "Jericho" is a lively routine that gives the film a much needed musical highlight.

But for both Skelton and Powell, this is one of their lesser efforts. Sam Levene, Thurston Hall, John Hodiak and Richard Ainley offer good support.

Sprightly Musical From the 1940s.

[rmax304823 · 6/10 · 9 July 2008]

Relaxed and enjoyable musical comedy. (There are some nefarious Nazis here with evil plans but forget them.) It's not Red Skelton's funniest comedy but he's still pretty amusing as his usual tall hick, with his goofy smile, falling over chairs, a pants-presser who impersonates someone else and gets rattled when threatened with exposure.

The musical numbers are pretty well done and efficiently integrated into the plot -- direction by Vincent Minnelli. Eleanor Powell is the major musical star and her tap dancing is so vigorous, and her body so limber and supple, and the tempo so fast, that just watching her spins for thirty seconds gave me chest pains.

We are given an extended version of the song "Star Eyes". It was a big hit during the war years. The lyrics are loony, but the song is pretty and amenable to all kinds of variations, as the film demonstrates. It's still part of the Great American Songbook. You can catch it on the occasional recent CD if you keep your ears open. Nick Brignola did it on baritone sax some years ago. The version in the film is of the period, with Helen O'Connell and Ray Eberle, with Jimmy Dorsey's orchestra.

Some of the jokes may get by younger viewers -- that is, younger than about 60. Red Skeleton is listening to a recording by Jimmy Dorsey at a shop window. He turns to the man standing next to him and makes some complimentary remark about Jimmy Dorsey. The man makes a snotty comment and walks away. The man is Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy's brother, and the two were notorious rivals at the time.

Someone pointed out in another comment that this was an updating of a Buster Keaton movie and I can believe it because Keaton's influence seems apparent in some scenes. (Skeleton trying to lift the limp body of the unconscious Eleanor Powell and stretch it out on the bed.) Keaton was gag adviser on another Red Skeleton comedy, "A Southern Yankee", and turned some of the scenes (eg., a dentist's chair) into comic gems.

"Star Eyes" was nothing more than ordinary pop music at the time. Whatever happened to vernacular music? Now I have to listen to some gangsta who can't sing threaten to wrench my head off and pour beer down my neck cavity. (Sob.) Where did it all go?

Disappointing Misfire

[Man99204 · 4/10 · 4 July 2016]

Considering the talent associated with this project, it should have been a much better movie. This is more a series of scenes than a cohesive movie.

There are several scenes featuring black performers like Lena Horn, and Hazel Scott. While their performances are amazing - they have absolutely nothing to do with the rest of the movie. IT is as if the movie is interrupted by a music video.

Both Red Skelton and Eleanor Powell had very unique and distinctive talents - this script makes little use of their abilities. This is basically a "B Picture' which any one of a dozen different MGM Stars could have done.

There are a couple of scenes where Skelton mugs for the camera. There are a couple of scenes where Powell dances - but these are add ons not related to the rest of the movie. The final film is a series of independent scenes with far too little plot to propel the action.

This is still worth seeing - especially for the performance of Hazel Scott and Lena Horn. But do not expect this to be like other "Classic MGM Musicals of the period". And, do not expect the plot to make any logical or rational sense.

Very Enjoyable!

[dickiebin60 · 9/10 · 12 April 2014]

Just saw this on TCM, and I enjoyed it very much. Red Skelton was a hoot, and Eleanor Powell - even my 26-year-old son thought her dance numbers were 'impressive.' Our favorite of these dance numbers was the first one at the beginning of the movie, a cowboy production where Eleanor Powell danced with lariat-wielding cowhands, then roped a post several times in a row, showing admirable skill. The rest of the movie contains some drama, intrigue, romance, and even a bit of derring-do. And, of course, more dancing and music, including appearances by Jimmy Dorsey. If you like musical comedies of the thirties and forties, this is one of the best!

Love struck fan

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 30 June 2016]

In Vincente Minnelli's third film MGM gave him the disparate talents of Eleanor Powell and Red Skelton to work with. The result was I Dood It and while Powell's career was only a few more films, Red's got going into high gear after this went into release.

Powell is a Broadway star and Red is a love struck fan who has seen 65 performances of her in some Civil War drama from the same seat. Of course the players have noticed him and he's always a well dressed man about town. But that's because he has the pick of suits to wear as he works for Sam Levene as a hotel valet and he borrows his customer's clothing for a night out.

I won't say more but Red was treading into Bob Hope territory here as the schnook who always wound up with the girl. In this case a glamorous dancing star like Eleanor Powell. There's hope for all of us and a lot of Hope for Red as well in this film.

Coming for specialty numbers are jazz pianist Hazel Scott and the great Lena Horne. Not to mention Jimmy Dorsey's Orchestra with singers Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly who were at the height of their popularity when I Dood It came out. Thurston Hall plays Powell's producer, Richard Ainley her insufferable leading man and John Hodiak in one of his earliest films was a Nazi spy and saboteur. Well this was 1943 and film audiences were reminded those Nazis were everywhere.

Red's fans and Eleanor's fans will get their money's worth with I Dood It.

A very weak Skelton film

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 18 April 2014]

Red Skelton plays Joe Reynolds--a guy who is absolutely obsessed with the stage actress Connie Shaw (Eleanor Powell). He's so obsessed that he sees every performance of her latest play and knows it by heart. When he meets her finally, he doesn't realize that when she proposes marriage it isn't because she cares about him but because she is doing it to spite another man.

"I Dood It" is one of the weakest films that Red Skelton made for MGM and there are two huge strikes against it--and one smaller one. First, it's a remake and the original (starring Buster Keaton) is a better film--though for Keaton standards it's also a weak effort. Second, like too many of MGM's films, the studio insisted on inserting a lot of music into the film, as they really didn't seem to trust comedy. Because of this, Skelton, who could be very funny, seems like an afterthought at times. As for the smaller strike against the film, because it was made during WWII, they inserted a completely unnecessary subplot near the end about some evil-doer trying to blow things up to somehow aid the Axis. It really made no sense and was obviously tossed in at the last minute.

Note: To show how poor this movie is, the final musical number is recycled--taken from a Powell film ("Born to Dance") made seven years earlier.

What clothes!! What jewelry!! What music!! What fun!!

[heathentart · 8/10 · 19 August 2009]

If you adore Red Skelton... If you adore Eleanor Powell... If you adore Swing music and ballads... If you enjoy just kicking back and letting the experience take hold...,

This is a terrific movie to enjoy with a bowl of popcorn. It's especially good when it's on TCM because there are no nasty cuts or commercials.

It's fluff, make no mistake. No Tarantino gore, no Stone conspiracies, no angst... just pure fun watching some of the best talent Hollywood ever had.

Lena Horne, Hazel Scott, Jimmy Dorsey, Bob Eberly, Helen O'Connell for the music. Eleanor Powell's magnificent dancing, Red Skelton's brilliant slapstick and his heart-felt sweetness. Then there's the rest of the cast - Thurston Hall, Sam Levene, John Hodiak, and Richard Ainley as Larry West, for whom this would be his last picture.

The plot has its nuttier moments, none of it meant to be taken seriously. It has plenty of eye-appeal in the costumes (magnificent gowns) created by Irene Sharaff, inarguably one of the greats in the history of design. There are jewels to glitter and shine and, if they were fakes, they were great fakes.

The plot gives Red Skelton plenty of opportunity to do what he did best. Just check out the "beard" scene - you'll know what I mean.

OK, so it ain't "Gone With The Wind," or "Of Human Bondage," but it's not supposed to be, even with the Civil War play going on.

One of the funniest parts for me was the sound effects guy doing the "hoofbeats" with the coconut shells, even though YOU know that the sound was being made by a Foley guy in post production. But it's a sound made within a picture by someone outside a picture... ahhh, now I'm confusing myself, and probably you, poor reader.

Leave your troubles behind. Tune out the kids, the phone, the interruptions, the beds can be made later. Have fun!

Skelton Never Got A Great Film

[DKosty123 · 6/10 · 3 September 2017]

When I saw that Vincente Minnelli was the director here, I thought, well Skelton at least got a little more support here with Eleanor Powell and a lot of staging. While there is a story, it not only was done before, but the film still does not make a comfortable fit for Red. Skelton would not hit his stride until television.

This is a war time production, obvious from the themes. Amazing to me is the unlisted cameos. For example, Butterfly McQueen is in this one, along with a fairly large group of unaccredited folks. Butterfly walks a poodle near Skelton when he is sitting defeated in a park.

The plot has Skelton chasing a show girl, as a pants presser chasing her by going to every one of her live shows. Meanwhile, a member of the cast of the show is planning to blow up the theater. The plot is not as important as the music and dancing it turns out with Red doing some comic relief.

You gotta love Powell and Lena Horne who are great. This is Vincente Minnelli working with a mixed race cast before the war is over. This same year he is directing an all black cast in "Cabin In The Sky" and it appears he literally borrows some of the cast from that picture to make cameos lat in this picture.

As a fan of Red, am glad I finally caught this one. So far, the scripts for Red in his films are lacking and this one is not an exception. At least here, he got an A-List Director and cast along with Jimmy Dorseys Orchestra.

A mishmash of a movie

[richard-1787 · 3/10 · 20 July 2022]

There is lots of talent on the screen here, but none in the script and not much in the directing. Nor in the composing. The musical numbers are pretty forgettable.

Powell does a great number early on with jump ropes.

Skelton does several bits that needed a lot of cutting, like when he puts on a moustache. That goes on WAY too long.

Lena Horne and Hazel Scott, both very talented, are wasted on their numbers, which are all flash and no substance. See Scott several years later in Rhapsody in Blue if you want to see her at her best.

When you get to the end and they start inserting numbers from other Powell movies, you know that MGM had given up on this one.

Little did you know...

[novan · 30 June 2003]

Here is a perfect little film. It's full of laughs, music and Red Skelton. I've never been a Red Skelton fan but when I saw this film on TCM I was hooked. I couldn't stop watching. Between the music, the dancing, and slapstick I can't say which one was better. The other thing is the direction. It didn't seem like it was made almost 60 years ago. The camera moment is on par with correct Hollywood. To that end, it was better than current directors do. No MTV editing but good clean shots that flow from one shot to the next without as many edits. Now that's something I would love current Hollywood try. This is a gem of a movie.

Red Skelton comedy

[SnoopyStyle · 6/10 · 18 July 2022]

Bumbling regular guy Joseph Rivington Renolds (Red Skelton) has a crush on Broadway star Connie Shaw (Eleanor Powell) from afar. She has her wandering-eye co-star boyfriend Larry West, and rival Suretta Brenton. Out of spite and due to a misunderstanding, she marries Joe.

The kissing rivalry is a great meet-cute. The gold mine misunderstanding is less cute. The musical within the movie slows everything down with some exceptions. It is amazing to see Lena Horne perform. The comedy is a bit uneven with Red Skelton working hard to keep it going. It has some fun moments but not all the moments work.

Auspicious start for a great director.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 8 December 2012]

While there is a definite art deco look to the mediocre musical comedy "I Dood It", it is a minor credit in the list of masterpieces by the great Vincent Minnelli, a sub-par entry in the credits of the great MGM musicals. This comedy/farce has a star-struck dry cleaner (Red Skelton) so enamored of Broadway star Eleanor Powell that he follows her everywhere she goes. (Today we call that stalking.) To get into a nightclub (featuring the Dorsey Brothers) where she goes regularly, he "borrows" a tailored suit (which coincidently fits him) and ends up married to her when she uses him to make her beau jealous because of his interest in another woman. But she finds she can't get rid of Skelton too easily, and he ends up saving the day when her co-star tries to rob a warehouse next to the theater in which they are appearing.

Little thought was put into this musical for the poor Ms. Powell as it includes two numbers previously seen in two of her other movies. A hula from "Honolulu" is lifted right out of that film, as is the final from "Born to Dance". While Ms. Powell has aged well in the seven years since that film, she doesn't really look exactly like what she used to anymore, so don't be surprised when you find yourself shaking your head. Her one dance number (a tricky rope tap dance) does stand out, as does Lena Horne's walk-on of "Jericho". Skelton and Powell share a nightclub dance where he is trying to avoid the actual owner of the suit that ends up comical due to his paranoia over being exposed. Another highlight is the "wedding night" scene where a passed out Powell (having taken a sleeping potion) keeps falling out of bed and Skelton tries different acrobatic ways to get her back in so she can "sleep it off".

However, the play within the play (obviously a rip-off of "Gone With the Wind") is so bad it seems like something spoofed on "The Carol Burnett Show". And with Skelton yelling about a bomb hidden in the basement, you want to yell at your TV, "No. It's not in the basement. It's on the stage!". There is a funny bit of "Noises Off!" like humor with Skelton messing up when he ends up in one of the actor's costumes on stage then fights with the villain on a rising set-piece. So while there are some really funny moments (influenced with the help of "Comedy Adviser" Buster Keaton) they are few and far between, and much of the film is ridiculous.

Patricia Dane's horrendous character seems to have no motivation for her nastiness towards Powell, although Powell isn't the sweet ingénue here, destroying a dressing room in one scene in quite a show of temperament. However, the presence of some wonderful character performers (Thurston Hall, Butterfly McQueen, Sam Levene, Marjorie Gateson) helps sustain the film from total boredom. With his first contract film out of the way, Minnelli would go onto the artistic triumph of "Cabin in the Sky" before his true talents were revealed with a colorful musical called "Meet Me in St. Louis".

I Dood It- Grammar and Picture Both Bad **

[edwagreen · 4/10 · 11 July 2008]

Only the musical number by the fabulous Dorsey band as well as the playing of Ms. Scott and wonderful singing by Lena Horne are about the only 2 saving graces of this rather silly film.

The trouble here is the far too many sub-plots. We have Red Skelton pursuing entertainer Eleanor Powell. She marries him when she discovers infidelity on the part of her boyfriend. A dancer with a pants presser? Sounds silly enough but they don't take the plot far enough. Instead, we have John Hodiak as a player in a show who is really a Nazi saboteur ready to blow up the theater area which is next to some important valuables.

Some of the Skelton-Powell skits are way overdone.

While we may have needed films like this in war-time, some of this is just too silly to imagine.

an uncredited remake

[jwtinsley · 4 October 2004]

No one seems to point out that his film is a remake of an earlier film Buster Keaton made for MGM titled "Spite Marriage", with many of the visual gags pulled directly from that earlier film with almost no changes. So as well as Red Skelton did in this, an earlier genius had done it first. Many of the best sight gags were lifted note-for-note from Keaton. The two films differ greatly in their sub-plots, but the core premise is the same. If you liked this movie, you should seek out the earlier film; a lot of it is genuinely funny. Although not Keaton at his peak (he was hampered by the MGM-imposed studio system), any Keaton is worth seeing.

Dood It Three Times

[tedg · 18 May 2006]

I have this notion that the thirties was a great pressure cooker for movies, during which time all sorts of experiments were tried. Out of that period came the genres we know today, plus the great invention of Noir, uniquely American.

So I've been watching lots of 30s movies, not because they are good or particularly enjoyable. But because you can see the genotype of today's movies, which is to say I can see the origins of how we all dream and mostly imagine.

Now here is an anomaly, a 30s movie made in the 40s. I can only imagine that it was to feed the war-starved theaters. It is a remake and "borrows" musical numbers from a couple films that really were made in the 30s.

It is a spliced picture, three movies combined, something that was common in the 30's.

One movie is a stage show. Simple and straightforward. Lots of variety here.

A second movie is a comedic fold: a movie where all the players are involved in some way in a play (different than the earlier mentioned performances and more like "Gone with the Wind"). Lots of physical humor here. Red Skelton's technique was to perform a comedic motion (like rolling his eyes after getting bonked) in an exaggerated fashion and then abruptly stop before it finished and look at the audience with a big grin. It was humor about humor, a not very sophisticated but an effective fold that would grow into what we have today (and call irony).

The third movie has a wartime saboteur. Because the "fold," the notion of the play within the play, is explicit here, the explosion is to blow up the theater (and somehow simultaneously threaten the nation by mechanisms unexplained).

Its a mess, these three parts not integrated in any way.

Ted's Evaluation -- 1 of 3: You can find something better to do with this part of your life.