Mr. Washington Goes to Town

Wallingford and his friend and cell mate Schenectady Jones are languishing in jail, Jones (Mantan Moreland) lamenting he's hungry.

Wallingford (F. E. Miller) tells him it's all in his mind, and he should consider Mahatma Gandhi, who had fasted 100 days.

Jones, though, says, "Fasting slows me down."

He has dreams. And goals. And suddenly Wallingford notices an article in the paper indicating Jones has inherited a hotel. And suddenly they both have dreams. And goals.

Next we see them both trying to operate the hotel, with the added stress that a large payment is due very soon on the mortgage.

The mortgage holder is, of course, a villain (aren't they all?). He checks into the hotel, demanding a free room, but his plan is to find a cache of money Jones's ancestor, the one who bequeathed Jones the hotel, supposedly left in the building.

Meanwhile our two heroes have to contend with a very odd assortment of guests, not one of whom makes any sense, but who do provide some fun, including a lot of silly fun.

Some of the would-be special effects flop, but at least one works extremely well.

It's not Shakespeare, but it is very worth watching, partly to see a black ensemble performing a comedy, doing so marvelously, and skin color having not one thing to do with the story.