After watching THE WISTFUL WIDOW OF WAGON GAP, I think it’s safe to say this is the second film of the second half. The halftime show would be the two films where Bud and Lou are not a team and the first half would be all those comedy/romance/musical mixes. The second half, which coincides with Universal becoming Universal-International forsakes the romance and music and THE WISTFUL WIDOW OF WAGON GAP, like last week’s film, is no exception. Ironic in a film where there are very few outside distractions Bud and Lou share top billing in this one with Marjorie Main. Ms. Main just came off the big hit THE EGG AND I which would soon morph into the Ma and Pa Kettle series. The first Universal-International film, BUCK PRIVATES COME HOME rides the success of BUCK PRIVATES and of course the next film for the studio uses the monsters, so I’m noticing the newly merged studio using Bud and Lou with successfully proven properties.
Something else I’m noticing for the second film in a row is less of reliance on old burlesque routines and a stronger emphasis on plot based comedy. Those burlesque routines were a good portion of the comedy in those first half films and would again be catalogued, minus the frills of the romance and music numbers, on the television show years later. So the plot in this one involves Lou accidentally killing a man in the old west. They are in Montana so state law says if you kill a man you must take care of his family and pay his debts. Well, the man Lou kills happens to have a ton of kids, ranging from young ones to a pretty daughter in her twenties because there has to be an excuse to hire a pretty actress, after all. Then of course there’s the wife, played by a well past her twenties and co top billed Marjorie Main. She is absolutely fantastic in this film. The scene where she tries to convince Lou to marry her is a treat to watch as she switches from sweet to demanding in nanoseconds and a frightened Lou acts accordingly. Great mileage is done with the responsibility to the family plot. Lou becomes sheriff and the only way he is able to get the rough cowboys to do his bidding is to threaten them with a picture of the family he’s currently caring for. After all, if they murder Lou, the family will be their responsibility by law. Lou acting tough is funny to watch and he even bosses Bud around at one point. It really feels like the equivalent of Larry getting his shots in at Moe in THE SITTER DOWNERS - the team dynamic takes a fascinating reverse turn for a moment.
Another great comedy scene is the frog in the soup gag. Another in a long line of instances where Lou sees some crazy situation and Bud never sees a thing. What’s great, in addition to the comedians being masterful in their roles, is the way Lou tries to pass off the soup with the frog in it to Bud, yet the frog manages to find a new way to hop into whatever bowl Lou has at the moment. The variety used in milking the same gag is great gag writing. I also enjoy the bit where Lou and one of the older kids get caught in a paintbrush on the face war, only to have the widow step in after poor Bud gets framed and she gives Bud the works. My only real complaint about this film, like most of the films we’ve discussed so far, is the finale. Here it’s not so much a chase as the film has an almost straight cowboy shoot down and fistfight to end things with little bits of comedy thrown in. I would have preferred a stronger comic ending, but that’s really my only complaint about this one.
So overall, yeah, I have a good feeling going forward with this Universal-International era. THE WISTFUL WIDOW OF WAGON GAP, if not the best film we’ve discussed so far, I feel is one of the better ones. Looking forward to the journey ahead.
