tadpole-596-918256 Review of Lambchops

Lambchops (1929)

Not every film debut is earth shattering; some are forgettable . . .

[6/10 · 21 May 2013]

. . . such as when Clint Eastwood played the white-smocked rodent wrangler Jennings in REVENGE OF THE CREATURE (1955). Anyone who tells you that as soon as they clapped their eyes on "Jennings," they knew that this actor would become Nameless in A FISTFUL OF DOLLARS, Dirty Harry in too many to mention, and the Terror of Highland Park in GRAN TORINO is lying! Similarly, any plaudits given to this Warner Brothers\Vitaphone short #891 LAMBCHOPS (1929) are clearly being award with the benefit of HINDSIGHT, since this is not even among the two or three most humorous shorts included among the two dozen in THE JAZZ SINGER set, and was tacked on solely for its name recognition. Nothing in its 8 minute, 1.04-second running time can come close to producing the level of side-splitting laughter Madeline Foy (of Seven Little Foys fame) induces in about 15 seconds with her retelling of Little Red Riding Hood's sad story. For sustained humor, the Beau Brummels are light years ahead of LAMBCHOPS, but due to Hollywood crony-ism and good genes for longevity, Burns & Allen are in the National Film Registry for LAMBCHOPS, while only my immediate family and maybe half a dozen other people are around to sing the praises of Albert Schultzman & Samuel Levy (the real names of the two guys making up the Beau Brummels).