Call of the Cuckoo

CALL OF THE CUCKOO

Aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Sound format: Silent

(Black and white - Short film)

Desperate to escape their crazy neighbors, Max and his family accept a house-swap sight unseen, but their new home turns out to be a dilapidated wreck...

Though headlined by silent star Max Davidson, Clyde Bruckman's unusual comedy opens with second-billed Laurel and Hardy performing strange, child-like mimes with James Finlayson outside Davidson's property, rather like circus clowns dressed in regular outfits! Once the action shifts to Davidson's new home, however, the movie becomes less interesting, as the building collapses around him at every turn. Davidson's bearded appearance and overcooked performance suggests - intentionally or not - some kind of appalling Jewish caricature, which taints the entire movie. One of the intertitles describes his nerdish son (Spec O'Donnell) as 'Love's great mistake!', a pre-Code insult which just about takes the biscuit, even today!