"Red" Jones attempts to prove himself to his sweetheart, Ann Elliott, by becoming a successful Fuller Brush door-to-door salesman. When one of his clients is murdered, "Red" becomes the number-one suspect by the police. He and Ann escape a trap set by the killer and his henchmen, but are still being chased through a war-surplus warehouse. Poor Red Jones gets fired from every job he tries. His fiancée gives him one last chance to make good when he becomes a Fuller Brush man. His awkward attempts at sales are further complicated when one of his customers is murdered and he becomes the prime suspect. Wow, this movie wore me out. It was almost non-stop slapstick action….actually too much; it could have used some lulls. Still, there were tons of funny moments.<br/><br/>Red Skeleton, in the starring role, provides most of the laughs with some corny-but-great lines and wonderful slapstick sight gags. Red, himself, must have been exhausted making this film.<br/><br/>My favorite parts were in the beginning when he gives door-to-door selling a chance. His mentor and nemesis "Keenan" (Don McGuire), sets him up with the worst houses on the block and poor Red takes a verbal and physical beating, even from a little kid! It's actually painful to see such a nice guy, such an Innocent human being, get treated so poorly by everyone. He can't catch a break, including making points with his wannabe girlfriend "Ann" (Janet Blair). <br/><br/>The break comes, of course, at the end and after a lot of chaos when Red inadvertently becomes involved in a murder and has to clear his name. You know Red, somehow, is going to pull through a ton of messy situations, even though it looks bad for him at least a hundred times!<br/><br/>This film, and "The Fuller Brush Girl" with Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert, have never been put on DVDs and that's a shame. It would make a nice double-feature disc.<br/><br/>By the way, when was the last time anyone saw a Fuller Brush man at their doorstep? Red Skelton finds a job as a door-to-door salesman while courting Janis Paige. The story turns into a murder mystery. That's about it.<br/><br/>The script was by Frank Tashlin, who went on to direct a couple of very amusing comedies, including "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter." It's not clear who the intended audience is in this instance.<br/><br/>I remember seeing it as a kid and laughing throughout, as I did at most of Red Skelton's movie – and Abbot and Costello, for that matter. But I saw things then as through a glass redly, or rosily, and now that I am a man I have put away that particular child-like faculty along with my unbroken collection of Action Comics.<br/><br/>It strikes me now as more silly than funny. Red Skelton marches down the sidewalk to appropriately pompous music, steps on a child's skate, and falls down. (The editor holds on the scene for several seconds, allowing the laughs in the audience die down.) Danny Kaye's comedies of the same period have held up much better. So have some of Red Skelton's. "A Southern Yankee" is still good for laughs.<br/><br/>Withal, there's an endearing innocence about the production. Nobody's sense of humor was designed to exceed the age of fourteen. The gags we've seen a hundred times on television sit comes may have been relatively fresh. Skelton has a mobile face and does mime well. And the slapstick chase through a war surplus warehouse at the end is exciting enough to entertain almost everyone.<br/><br/>It would be nice to check this out on an eleven-year-old child and see if he or she laughs or whether an abundance of sit coms and cartoons have made their sensibilities harden and their demands more challenging.
I am not interested in watching dubbed movies especially the English movies dubbed to other languages. It is better to watch movies in the same language. Please share the original version of this film so that I could enjoy the movie and hope you will update the post soon. the page here
Ralfhisay replied
330 weeks ago