THE TIN MAN (1935)
Article 2079 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 11-24-2006
Posting Date: 4-22-2007
Directed by James Parrott
Featuring Thelma Todd, Patsy Kelly, Matthew Betz

Two women and a escaped criminal find themselves trapped in a spooky house with a mad scientist and his robot.

One of the pleasures of this project is when a movie that has been sitting on my hunt list a long time finally manifests itself so I can watch it. This is true even when the movie in question isn’t very good. This was one of a series of short comedies Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly made in the early thirties until Thelma’s death in 1935. Most of the humor comes from their interaction with the robot, who drinks what I can only assume is oil, pours water on one of the women’s heads, and short-circuits when water is thrown on him. The escaped criminal gets the worst of it. It’s amusing enough, but the gags just aren’t strong enough to pass muster. Still, it’s nice to cross this one off the list at last.