Topic: You're Next! (1940) - Walter Catlett and Monty Collins

[Paul Pain]

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138203/
https://cinemacats.com/youre-next-1940/
http://www.silentcomedymafia.com/viewtopic.php?t=991



Some useful links above here.  This one is in circulation, but I won't share the link to protect it.

Walter Catlett was one of many comedians whom, in an effort to boost comedic value of shorts, got paired with Monte Collins.  Collins was Columbia's jack-of-all-trades who was used as the partner to many, including Catlett, Buster Keaton, and Tom Kennedy, with the last being the most successful of the pairings.  In baseball, as metaldams can tell you, this is called the "utility player."

YOU'RE NEXT! is a macabre little comedy that should seem very familiar to you.  This short was reborn 6 years later as PARDON MY TERROR, which we will review in the future, and we know PARDON MY TERROR was the hodge-podge product that resulted from Curly's illness preventing this from being a Stooges script.  It was finally perfected as WHO DONE IT? in 1949, which was recycled as FOR CRIMIN' OUT LOUD in 1956.  We'll be visiting the 2nd of this quadrilogy soon enough as we compare these to their final form.

Now, this is an interesting little short on which we embark our new journey.  On its own, it's not a terrible short, though I am not a huge fan of Walter Catlett, but he was a solid comedian.  Instead we get treated to what is more a vehicle for Dudley Dickerson and Monte Collins.  Roscoe Ates, John Murray, and Chester Conklin fill out the cast.

The short itself isn't too bad because it does at the very least have a coherent plot.  The opening scene where we are introduced to "Pruitt & Slocum" severely lacks compared to the Stooge's version in every sense possible.  Hearing Walter yell in the trash can for over a minute gets tiresome even though Monte does well-enough with getting it off.  Monte could do physical comedy much better than he could do... well, he sometimes didn't do much else right at all, but he could do the physical stuff!

The scenes at the mansion do a decent enough job of providing the evil mad scientist them from SPOOKS!, but they lack the true horror of Phil Van Zandt tormenting a beautiful blonde as Roscoe Ates just sucks at acting scared.  He stutters mostly without much else.  His shtick is tired and old, and John Murray just isn't scary.

Dudley Dickerson is just plain wonderful in his role, but what a bizarre end to his character.  I won't spoil it, but that was one of the most macabre scenes to ever show up in any Columbia Short Subject.  This spoils what is otherwise a good ending.

I must mention the gorilla in the room.  The gorilla actually works well here!  Yes, I said it!  I like the gorilla!  There are some decent yucks, but it's not a fantastic short.  Definitely, though, worth seeing if you're a seasoned Stooges fan and want to learn about what else Columbia's Short Subjects Department was brewing.

8/10

[metaldams]

      Officially a Walter Catlett film, YOU’RE NEXT! is in actuality a comedy team film where Catlett teams with Monty Collins and Dudley Dickerson.  I’d love to know the politics behind these billings.  Even at Vitaphone, you’ll find Shemp in similar makeshift comedy teams where not every team member is above the title as they should be.   

      Three seasoned pros who aren’t sublime like The Three Stooges, but more than capable of making a script like this fun and at the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.  Well, Dickerson is a bit sublime with some of his scare reactions, One of the better scare reaction comedians out there.  As far as his death scene, a funny story behind that.  About a week ago I watched the Del Lord directed Mack Sennett short SUPER-HOOPER-DYNE LIZZIES where a scared black character literally disintegrates in front of a skeleton by a door way.  When Paul mentioned the macabre ending, I wondered to myself if it was the same thing.  Before watching YOU’RE NEXT!, I read the Silent Comedy Mafia thread linked above and Richard Roberts confirmed what I guessed.  The only difference is in the Sennett short, there’s a man in a skeleton outfit with a ray gun that causes the disintegration.  In Dudley’s case, it’s a real skeleton he sees and the disintegration is out of fear.  Not the kind of thing that would be made in 2020, Dudley rules anyway.

      This is a prime 1940 Columbia short directed by Del Lord.  Fast pacing and multiple settings the likes of which you’ll see in the early 40’s, but certainly not the early 50’s at Columbia.  I do love the underground cave especially and the ladder bit with the gorilla.  So a 1940 Columbia with a gorilla, capable scared comedians, hidden passages, a few stock footage sound effects and a lot of scare reactions.  Hard to wax poetic about this one like say, TROUBLE IN PARADISE (no wonder why the critics prefer it), but for pure, unpretentious fun, YOU’RE NEXT! works.

      Oh, and Roscoe Ates at Columbia?  Interesting.

     

[Paul Pain]

Three seasoned pros who aren’t sublime like The Three Stooges, but more than capable of making a script like this fun and at the end of the day, that’s all that really matters.  Well, Dickerson is a bit sublime with some of his scare reactions, One of the better scare reaction comedians out there.  As far as his death scene, a funny story behind that.  About a week ago I watched the Del Lord directed Mack Sennett short SUPER-HOOPER-DYNE LIZZIES where a scared black character literally disintegrates in front of a skeleton by a door way.  When Paul mentioned the macabre ending, I wondered to myself if it was the same thing.  Before watching YOU’RE NEXT!, I read the Silent Comedy Mafia thread linked above and Richard Roberts confirmed what I guessed.  The only difference is in the Sennett short, there’s a man in a skeleton outfit with a ray gun that causes the disintegration.  In Dudley’s case, it’s a real skeleton he sees and the disintegration is out of fear.  Not the kind of thing that would be made in 2020, Dudley rules anyway.

Maybe we can eventually add SUPER-HOOPER-DYNE LIZZIES to things if it's available.  We'll see.  I'm hoping to return to doing at least every other week, if not weekly, reviews.  I have to ask if this was your first viewing of this?

[Paul Pain]

Oh, and Walter Catlett made 4 or 5 total shorts for Columbia from 1934 to 1940.  In one of those, supposedly, many of Columbia's famous sound effects were debuted.

[metaldams]

Maybe we can eventually add SUPER-HOOPER-DYNE LIZZIES to things if it's available.  We'll see.  I'm hoping to return to doing at least every other week, if not weekly, reviews.  I have to ask if this was your first viewing of this?

Yes, this was my first viewing.  SUPER-HOOPER-DYNE LIZZIES might get reviewed by me, though there are some I like better.  If not, then at the very least one other mid twenties Del Lord Sennett short.

Actually, November will be ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KEYSTONE COPS.  I’ll make that a Sennett themed month.

[Paul Pain]

Yes, this was my first viewing.  SUPER-HOOPER-DYNE LIZZIES might get reviewed by me, though there are some I like better.  If not, then at the very least one other mid twenties Del Lord Sennett short.

Actually, November will be ABBOTT AND COSTELLO MEET THE KEYSTONE COPS.  I’ll make that a Sennett themed month.

Let it be as though it were set in stone.

[Umbrella Sam]

I never knew that the origins of this script went so far back. I had always assumed that PARDON MY TERROR was the first version and then the Stooges did it as initially intended with WHO DONE IT? It is interesting to see just how much the script evolved over that time.

Walter Catlett and Monte Collins are an average comedy pairing. Both of them are funny, but it does feel like there’s not really much of an attempt to distinguish them. It seems like they’re pushing for Catlett as the con man type-leader, as that was the kind of role he usually played (Barsad, Honest John), but really the only moment where that trait shines through is when he’s trying to trick Monte into going into the building while he waits outside.

Even if they are kind of generic, that’s fine, because this is basically meant to be a fast-paced scare comedy...and as a fast-paced scare comedy, it works just fine. The reactions are funny, especially from Dudley Dickerson, and there aren’t any moments where it really feels dull. It’s by no means a great comedy...certainly not as funny as the Stooges version...but it’s still a fun way to spend 17 minutes.

7 out of 10