Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews
French Fried Frolic (1949) - Wally Brown & Tim Ryan
Paul Pain:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0189533/
http://www.emilsitka.com/frenchfriedfrolic1949.html
FRENCH FRIED FROLIC was the lone effort for Wally Brown & Tim Ryan. The Emil Sitka diary linked merely contains the details about the part, but there are no diary notes as of now. This short was one of the first non-Stooge Columbia shorts I ever watched, as at the time I was discovering Emil Sitka's other work, and this is my first viewing of this in 4-5 years. Outside of Hugh Herbert and Schilling & Lane, there are few of these shorts that I have seen previously.
This short is such a disappointment because it's the lone short for this team. Wally Brown was an ex-Vaudevillian who handled quick-talking Abbott and Costello type of routines well (unsurprisingly, he was a regular on their radio show) and did well at comically panicking; he died from a throat hemorrhage in 1961. Tim Ryan, better known as Irene Ryan's ex-husband; Tim and Irene had a short-subject series at Educational from 1935 to 1937; Tim Ryan passed away in 1956, aged 57. Together, they make an interesting team as hen-pecked husbands desperate for a dollar.
This short has a slightly different premise: Wally and Tim, insurance salesmen, pose as husbands so that two newly-wed French ladies, whose husbands are away, can collect a $50000 dowry from their Uncle Pierre, and in return Tim and Wally get $2500. It wouldn't be Columbia pictures, though, if Tim and Wally's wives though didn't show up, having conveniently chosen to do their husband's jobs behind their backs and happening to decide to go to the exact same apartment first. From there, it's all matters of domestic craziness as disguises and trickery abound. Then, the real husbands just-as-conveniently return from their business trip a day early; and further craziness ensues.
Now, this may seem stale, but there are some wild moments in here; my favorite moment, in particular, is when Tim Ryan bites Frank Sully on the leg, primarily because Tim just doesn't look like the kind of guy who would resort to such measures. Everything moves rapidly, and the jokes and slapstick is equally rapid. If fast-paced comedy is your thing, then this is a good short for you. We even see the full bathtub gag used at the end of THREE DARK HORSES 3 years later.
The cast consists mainly of Columbia workhorses: Emil Sitka, Nanette Bordeaux, Christine McIntyre, etc. Among those is Eddie Baker, an old staple from the silent-film era. Overall, there are no major complaints about the cast. Everyone handles their role well even if most of them are not outstanding. The ones who are outstanding are Nanette, Christine, and Emil in their French characters.
9/10 [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke]
metaldams:
Wally Brown was part of RKO’s Abbott and Costello knock off team Brown and Carny. I’ve seen a few of those and they were dreadful. This should be interesting when I get to it.
HomokHarcos:
--- Quote from: metaldams on June 17, 2021, 10:52:20 AM ---Wally Brown was part of RKO’s Abbott and Costello knock off team Brown and Carny. I’ve seen a few of those and they were dreadful. This should be interesting when I get to it.
--- End quote ---
That's what I know Wally Brown from, but I actually liked Zombies on Broadway. I'll watch this later today.
metaldams:
--- Quote from: HomokHarcos on June 17, 2021, 12:54:04 PM ---That's what I know Wally Brown from, but I actually liked Zombies on Broadway. I'll watch this later today.
--- End quote ---
I like Zombies on Broadway too, but because of Bela Lugosi and Darby Jones as the zombie.
HomokHarcos:
That was an entertaining comedy. My favorite part is when Brown and Ryan claimed their wives were blackmailers trying to get money by falsely claiming to be people’s wives and the detective takes them away. Surprisingly the short is well plotted and there doesn’t seem to be any gags that were added in just for the sake of more violence.
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