Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews
Ay Tank Ay Go (1936) - El Brendel
Paul Pain:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0131851/
"What the hell did I just watch?" is a good question to ask after watching AY TANK AY GO. This short was a 16 minute hodgepodge of trash, plain and simple. When the comedian can only make one funny face and do a single dialect, much is to be desired. The guy can take his hits though.
I decided to get this, the most cancerous part of our journey, over with sooner rather than later. This short is just a typical stereotype of country life that makes me cringe having lived in some extremely rural places in my lifetime. Unfortunately, this is basically the entire plot: stereotypical redneck feuds. It's like nothing else I have ever seen from Columbia.
There are good moments, like El's moment with the shotgun and him combing his hair, but the rest just sucks. The plot is disjointed and actually goes completely unresolved, with the issue of "marryin' or killin'" going unresolved. It sucked so badly that, until he broke character, I didn't realize that Bud Jamison was in this! The bull scene went on too long for just a repetitive gag. Good support can't help this plot, but better scenery might have at least helped a little.
This short can... BURN IN HELLTM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
2/10 [poke] [poke]
metaldams:
I watched this short years ago and remember being aghast. Will my somewhat older self be kinder and gentler towards this one? I’ll try when I watch again this weekend.
....and to piggyback off The Wizard of Oz thread, the Swedes get it here. [pie] ....and Warner Oland, an actual Swedish actor, played Fu Manchu and Charlie Chan and....I need to get some rest.
metaldams:
Eh, it’s OK. Nothing stellar but definitely of interest for my curiosity for Columbia comedy shorts. It’s 1936, so again, we are in the era where it looked like these shorts had something resembling a budget. Outdoor scenery, cabins, barns - funny this should be a big deal but when you watch so many of these things from the 50’s, it actually is. AY TANK AY GO also benefits from having Phyllis Crane in a decent role, who I’ll cherish any opportunity I get to see her in. She was underused in her Educational Keaton roles but again is prominent here at Columbia, so a thumbs up for that.
As for El Brendel himself, he is from a long line of dialect comedians. It’s a club that, from what I can gather based on my present viewing experiences, includes Chico Marx and then everybody else. Chico had the dialogue, talent and charisma to make his dialect character entertaining and the accent becomes part of the character, not a distraction. With El Brendel, half the time, I’m wondering what the Hell he is saying and even when I do know, the accent always distracts. He’s an OK physical comedian, I do wonder what he’d be like in silents. He does the old warhorse of tie a stool on a cow’s tail gag OK and makes a decent facial expression when called for. The chase at the end is ludicrously entertaining in its own way as are those big sunflowers, so the film is not a total loss. But man, that accent, it just distracts. It may be the kind of thing I can overcome if I ever had an El Brendel marathon, but that’s not in the cards anytime soon.
Dr. Mabuse:
Regardless of two-reeler or feature film, El Brendel never made me laugh. He's practically intolerable in the Oscar-nominated Technicolor short "What, No Men?" (1934).
Paul Pain:
Well, El's 1941 short, THE BLITZKISS, which isn't available on the internet (though you can buy it) was nominated for an Academy Award somehow...
--- Quote from: metaldams on April 25, 2020, 02:53:16 PM ---But man, that accent, it just distracts. It may be the kind of thing I can overcome if I ever had an El Brendel marathon, but that’s not in the cards anytime soon.
--- End quote ---
The next few weeks shall see much suffering as we charge through El's shorts.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version