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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Road Show (1941)

An American musical comedy directed and produced by Hal Roach, starring Carole Landis, John Hubbard, Patsy Kelly and Shemp Howard.
A millionaire who is about to be married fakes mental illness out of fear of marriage and hears his soon to be bride conspiring with her family on what to do with his money. They have him committed even though he is sane when he tells them he was faking and heard what they said. Together with the help of an older man with a wacky camera, he escapes the mental institution and ends up joining a circus/carnival. The millionaire falls in love with the woman running the circus.
This was actually good! The plot kept me interested, but the unique and memorable characters made it worth watching. Although stereotypical, the characters showed some depth and were developed to some degree. The older man with the camera and the woman who is mistaken for an Indian were my favorites. The style was very much '40s, but the humor was actually funny (very rare!). The audio and video quality were adequate to communicate what was going on and there were some special effects done with camera speed. Pacing was just fast enough to keep the plot moving, but not so quick as to deny enjoyment of individual scenes. Continuity and editing were both very good. I'm rating this good and would recommend it to anyone who can appreciate how well made it is.

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