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Reviews
False Roomers (1931)
One of the funniest 1930's comedies in which James Finlayson steals the show!
This is one of the funniest short comedies of the 1930's. In this movie comedy-team Clark & McCullough rent a room and their landlord is James Finlayson. (Best remembered as the number 1 foil to Laurel & Hardy.) He works perfectly well with the team, even better than in JITTERS THE BUTLER. As the hard of hearing, forgetful and partially sighted landlord, Finlayson steals every scene. Some of his lines are repeatedly hilarious: "No cookin'!" and "Oh yes, I forgot!" Also in the cast are Eddie Dunn and Kewpie Morgan, who played the King in Laurel & Hardy's BABES IN TOYLAND. After seeing this short comedy and two others I am positive that Clark & McCullough deserve to be re-discovered!
Hostage for a Day (1994)
Sensitivity and silliness
The first time I saw this movie, around 1996, I was very disappointed. After nine years I gave this movie a second try. This time I enjoyed the movie. John Candy's small cameo as Yuri Petrovich is funny, although I wonder how it would have been if John had played George Wendt's part. Don't get me wrong, George Wendt is a great actor but he hasn't got much chance to be funny, because you feel sorry for his character all the time. Christopher Templeton is really terrific as Wendt's childhood sweetheart Diane St. Clair. I think the big problem is that the movie's sensitivity doesn't match with the silliness and vice versa. Sadly, when this movie premiered on television John Candy had already passed away.