Three on a Limb (1936)

Like The Timid Young Man, Three on a Limb is hampered by some irritating gender stuff in its plot.  Though I wouldn’t say it’s as discomfiting as The Timid Young Man, it’s still unfortunate, especially since this short has more comedy to recommend it (a few spoilers.)

Buster, a scout (leader?  Everyone just refers to him as a scout, but given his grown-man-ness, I have to assume he’s in charge of a troop,) falls in love with his drive-in waitress, as you do.  After giving her a ride home from work, he finds that any happiness between them will be tangled up in her parents’ meddling – her mother and father both have a different man they want her to marry, and she and Buster are caught in the middle.

The weirdness going on here occurs in the short’s last reel.  Since this is 1936, I understand the girl’s parents thinking they have the final word in her marriage; still not cool, obviously, but I understand where that plot line comes from.  However, what rubs me the wrong way is the quasi-farcical sequence in which the justice of the peace is brought to the apartment she shares with her parents and he’s forced to constantly restart the ceremony because she keeps getting different grooms thrust upon her.  Whether they’re elbowing their rivals out or getting pushed forward by one parent or another, it seems to be understood by all present that whoever manages to stand next to her from one end of the ceremony to the other will come out of it her husband.  Less a wedding and more King of the Mountain – what the girl wants has no part in it whatsoever.

As for Buster, the story is a little sneering when it comes to his character.  Nearly everyone looks down on him due to his scout uniform, and there are moments that get a bit too “sad trombone” for my liking.  However, he has a number of decent-to-good comic bits to work with.  I like his trials in relation to his drive-in meal.  Though I think the end of that sequence is over-the-top, the whole thing with one car door popping open every time he shuts the other is funny.  He also has a nice run of gags with the girl’s territorial dog, and everything involving the fire hose is great.  In particular, I’m a sucker that twisting flip/tumble he does; love it no matter how often I see it.

Overall?  Some pretty decent slapstick in a not-very-good short.  I recall really disliking it when I first saw it, and I feel like it improved slightly the second time, but it’s still no prize.  While some of the Educational/Columbia shorts are legitimately great (of the ones I’ve reviewed so far, The Gold Ghost is probably the best contender,) it’s ones like Three on a Limb that remind me why Buster had no great love for this period of his career.  The quality is nowhere near his exemplary standards.

Warnings

Slapstick violence and some weird gender stuff.