He Asked for It (1940) User Reviews

The Libertarian

[boblipton · 7/10 · 26 November 2017]

Leon Errol spends an awful lot of time grumbling about the laws that keep him from doing what he wants. People like him anyway. However, when his wife, Anita Garvin consents, the full power of the local judiciary comes down on him in this funny short subject.

It's all nonsense recitation and Leon doing double-takes, and that's more than enough to keep it amusing. Given the rise, in recent decades, of formal libertarian and sovereign citizen movements, it's funny to see it handled with a laugh and a smirk.

The one regret I have is that Miss Garvin, a fine comic glarer and pratfall taker is given so little to do in this short, but it's good to see her in any case.

Laws are made to keep people like him in line.

[mark.waltz · 6/10 · 27 November 2020]

It's nice to see comic legend Leon Errol playing against type in this two reeler comedy about a smug know-it-all who needs more than just a fine, smack on the wrist and short jail sentence. He's what you would refer to today as a male "Karen", testing the law in every way possible to see what he can get away with, and finally, when the law and his wife (Anita Garvin) have had enough, they decide to teach him a lesson. He is brought into court on a charge of trying to bribe a police officer where crimes from his past, even inconsequential ones, are brought up, and Garvin brings in her divorce attorney.

Errol of course is aghast that he is being set up for public humiliation like this, but the courts have no sympathy for his nonsense and threatened to throw the book at him for every little infraction he has attempted over the years. It's clever and timeless, and Errol, who usually played the henpecked husband in the wrong place at the wrong time or seen with the wrong person in innocent situations, plays this unique challenging role for all it is worth.