Blondie Has Servant
Trouble
Director: Frank Strayer
Year: 1940
Rating:
6.5
Well, since it is that time of year when everyone
feels they need to watch scary movies, I thought I would too. Yup. A Blondie
movie. That is about as scary as I like my movies. Fear and I don't
get along all that well. But this actually has plenty of horror elements
in it though mainly played for laughs. Of the first five films in the series,
this sixth is by far the best. While most of the previous ones dealt with
domestic issues - a baby, a budget, a boss and a vacation - this one deals
with servants. A psychotic one that wants to kill the Bumstead's. If you
watch enough of these, you might sympathize. This has some surprisingly good
comedy routines such as Dagwood with a flashlight stuck in his mouth, the
disappearing wardrobe and the multitude of hidden panels. It also has the
"colored boy" comic relief and you can imagine how that goes.
Blondie (Penny Singleton) is nagging Dagwood
(Arthur Lake) for a maid. The middle class dream. Since she has no job and
only the annoying Baby Dumpling as a child, it is hard to imagine why she
needs one. But the neighbor down the street got one. Dagwood puts his foot
down as much as a man with no spine can, anyways. But they get the opportunity
to have servants when the boss, Mr. Dithers (Jonathan Hale) asks them to
occupy an old mansion for a few weeks and he will send them some servants.
As these things go, all three along with Daisy the dog arrive on a dark and
stormy night to find an empty house. Except for a ghost. Which turns out
to be Horatio (Ray Turner) who has to spend the night in a haunted house
as initiation to get into the lodge. Prepare yourself for a lot of bug-eyed
my legs can't move comedy from Turner. Turner has 120 film credits but most
as "uncredited". At least here he gets a lengthy role and is pretty memorable.
A husband-wife servant team show up - only
Baby Dumpling notices that they are not wet - who are not the servants but
the man is a psychotic killer who wants possession of the house. The dead
owner was a magician so expect a rabbit to show up. And lots of hands
reaching out of hidden closets to strangle the Bumstead's. No, the child
I kept saying.
