Alright, The Vacuum Cleaner Salesman. The beginning with Lou doing pantomime was interesting mostly for the early silent comedy comparisons, but it’s not really all that funny and a bit repetitive. After a pretty good routine involving 50 cents, we then get a repeat of the Besser fire gags from AFRICA SCREAMS. On the one hand, you have Sid Fields being Sid Fields. I love seeing him lying on the floor after slipping and how Lou and Stinky just completely ignore his body being there. One downside, though, is that I think Besser actually kind of overdoes the buildup to the fire reveal. In AFRICA SCREAMS, he’s silently running back and forth before the big reveal, while here he’s constantly screaming for people to get out of his way. To be fair, the latter method is more believable, but I think the idea from AFRICA SCREAMS is funnier; Besser’s character is trying his best to not be disruptive or bother people while dealing with a tent fire! It’s little details like that that can affect how a gag plays out. But again, the reactions from Fields and Costello afterwards are great.
The employment agency scene provides us with yet another opportunity to see Sid Fields working hilariously off of Costello. I swear, that man was born to work with this duo. His eccentric jobs, the pinwheel, his overacting as the customer, it’s all very well timed and done in the way Sid Fields does so well. The vacuum cleaner salesman bits work here. My problem with LITTLE GIANT in general is that I thought the pacing was a bit off, and with the salesman scenes in particular, Costello seemed a bit lost. I think just having Abbott there in general gives it a bit more of a focus. Abbott gets to set up ideas and Costello can focus on his chances to humorously mess them up, getting his foot injured with the “foot in the door” method and thrown out by a jealous husband.
Overall, still pretty good. The beginning’s a bit slow, but the second half in particular is very funny.