Film & Shorts Discussions > Random Comedy Reviews

Lodge Night (1937) - Andy Clyde

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Paul Pain:



IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0164087/

LODGE NIGHT is yet another torturous domestic comedy of many in the Andy Clyde series.  But it's one that has merits.  This short steals from Laurel & Hardy, the Marx Brothers, and the usual tired Columbia tropes to create something unique even if the typical disappointment.  This short doesn't use any of Columbia's usual players for the supporting roles.

Now, yes, it's another, as I said, torturous domestic comedy as, yet again, it involves Andy getting framed being around other women and circumstances that magically cause his wife to end up in the same place... and, as always, it ends with Andy getting punished and the real villains getting off.  The plot is one that I find to be almost completely unbearable, and I sometimes have to pause and take a break when watching these because I want to punch something.

Not only is this the case, but the short has a lot of wasted potential.  The opening scene with Andy trying to fix his lodge skirt is hilarious, but it's obviously a stunt double doing the parts with the visible contortion.  The classic Harpo Marx mirror gag is redone here, but, unlike Curly and the Wolf-man or Harpo and his counterparts, here Andy and William McCall are quite easily seen to be completely out of sync with each other.

It is stated plainly that Potentate Jones is an escaped convict using a disguise to not be recognized; why could this not instead have been worked so that Andy and Potentate are running from the cops instead of Mrs. Clyde, with an ending with Andy causing the bad guy to be arrested.  LODGE NIGHT was indeed remade, in 1951, as BLONDE ATOM BOMB, but the short is lost and almost no traces remain except the shooting script; but without seeing the script, there is no way to know what was changed.

Now, Andy Clyde definitely has a lot of comedic abilities, but he just gets placed into the same situation again and again and again and again and again and again.  His reactions as he's trying to process and escape these situations are some of the best Columbia had in the department, but his talent is wasted in these shorts.

5/10 [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke] [poke]

HomokHarcos:
Pretty similar to the last one but I found this one more enjoyable. I loved it when Andy Clyde has the look alike, the costume was somehow even goofier looking than Groucho. I liked when the man though his reflection was Andy and smashed the mirror. The mirror routine was poorly done, but somehow made things funny because of how bad it was.

Paul Pain:

--- Quote from: HomokHarcos on September 06, 2021, 02:07:22 PM ---Pretty similar to the last one but I found this one more enjoyable. I loved it when Andy Clyde has the look alike, the costume was somehow even goofier looking than Groucho. I liked when the man though his reflection was Andy and smashed the mirror. The mirror routine was poorly done, but somehow made things funny because of how bad it was.

--- End quote ---

I can understand getting enjoyment in how bad a production is.  This one certainly has a lot of it!

metaldams:
I really enjoyed this one.  Yes, it’s a domestic mix up, but it’s not a bedroom farce and not all the parties involved are mixed up.  For example, Joan Woodbury’s “Lola” (El-Low-El-Lay - Low-La?) definitely knew what she was doing being a seductress thief - and I have an old Hollywood crush on Ms. Woodbury, having seen her in a few other things.  Another one of those why weren’t they with The Stooges cases.  Anyway - watching her seduce and steal from a hapless Clyde was quite entertaining.  That alone was worth the price of admission.

But wait, there’s more.  I dig the atmosphere of the back stage area and club, the amount of extras screams budget for Columbia standards - and there’s more funny stuff.  Agreed about the pretzel tie up thing at the beginning, I was laughing pretty hard.  The mirror scene, done by The Marx Brothers, but also Max Linder, Charley Chase, Billy West, and some dude named Chaplin in variations, - yeah true, it’s been done better, but I was entertained here just the same. 

Paul Pain:
Well, I certainly can see what others find so enjoyable about this one, but in my opinion too many things were just done sub-standard.

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