The post-War years spent a lot of film asking if men in general or husbands in particular should do something or other. The conclusion almost invariably turned out to be they shouldn't.
In this one, there's a big dance coming up, and Dorothy Dane is excited.... except that husband Neal Burns can't dance for beans. However, family friend Dorothy Devore offers to teach him in secret as a surprise for his wife at home, while he sends over to her mother's. However, Miss Devore has a jealous boyfriend...
Well, you can see how this will all play out. This being a Christie comedy before 1924, there's not a pratfall in sight. It's all very situation-comedy fodder, with things moving along at as fast a clip as they can manage.... except that the audience is way ahead of them. What husbands should do, it turns out, is not try to surprise wives.
The Christies were among the first producers to settle in Hollywood, and they were still producing, albeit for others, as the 1940s rolled around. They were slow to move into slapstick in any form and for almost a decade after Sennett started Keystone, they sneered at it, hewing to traditional stories and classic comic forms, none of this newfangled commedia dell'arte stuff. I think they're dull in general, and this one in particular. It's a pity, because they have a couple of capable performers here in Miss Devore and Mr. Burns.
In this one, there's a big dance coming up, and Dorothy Dane is excited.... except that husband Neal Burns can't dance for beans. However, family friend Dorothy Devore offers to teach him in secret as a surprise for his wife at home, while he sends over to her mother's. However, Miss Devore has a jealous boyfriend...
Well, you can see how this will all play out. This being a Christie comedy before 1924, there's not a pratfall in sight. It's all very situation-comedy fodder, with things moving along at as fast a clip as they can manage.... except that the audience is way ahead of them. What husbands should do, it turns out, is not try to surprise wives.
The Christies were among the first producers to settle in Hollywood, and they were still producing, albeit for others, as the 1940s rolled around. They were slow to move into slapstick in any form and for almost a decade after Sennett started Keystone, they sneered at it, hewing to traditional stories and classic comic forms, none of this newfangled commedia dell'arte stuff. I think they're dull in general, and this one in particular. It's a pity, because they have a couple of capable performers here in Miss Devore and Mr. Burns.
