Movie Mania (1928) User Reviews

Mostly pies.

[planktonrules · 5/10 · 25 January 2022]

The story is an ethnic comedy...which were very popular back in the day. The story is about two families that live next to each other...a Jewish one and an Irish one. Well, when Lizzie is offered a movie contract in Hollywood, three of these knuckleheads assume she'll be set upon by villains....and so they follow her to California.

Unfortunately, much of the humor here consists of the trio tossing pies, sitting in pies and the like. Not exactly intellectual nor funny stuff. Not a bad film...just not one that I'd rush to see.

Not Mad About This

[boblipton · 3/10 · 7 October 2022]

Well, there's an Irish family living next to a Jewish family. When they're not busy doing every stereotypical thing, Bess True, the daughter of the Irish house gets a Hollywood contract. After she has left, Georgie Chapman, the son of the Jewish house finds a book saying there are evil people in Hollywood. So they head out west to have a pie fight.

Battling Irish and Jewish families were a popular theme of the 1920s, with ABIE'S IRISH ROSE holding for decade the record of longest-running Broadway show. Over at Universal, THE KELLYS AND THE COHENS series started in the silent era and extended well into the 1930s.

This is the last of this series of shorts. Perhaps they made it just to finish out a contract, which would explain why it's filled with lazy gags, puns, and barely motivated actions. Or perhaps the earlier ones did the same, which is why this was the last. I'm not anxious to investigate the issue.