Harry Cohn must have ponied up big to Louis B. Mayer for the services of his number one comic star Red Skelton. But the results were definitely worthwhile with The Fuller Brush Man.
Back in the 40s there were 3 things sold door to door by intrepid salesmen, encyclopedias, vacuum cleaners, and those brushes from Fuller. As sleazy Don McGuire points out to Red it takes personality which Red has, but not to sell anything but laughs.
Red's previous job before Fuller was a sanitation worker, but he insults Sanitation Commissioner Nicholas Joy and later is present in the house when Joy is murdered. One of Red's brushes is the weapon, but how it was used I can't say. Red was in a houseful of suspects and he looks like just the patsy for good size frame.
Columbia put three of its best female contract players with Red. Janet Blair plays the girl McGuire keeps trying to steal from him. Hillary Brooke and Adele Jergens were at the murder scene, a pair of femme fatales if I ever saw one.
In fact there's more than one and one obviously clichéd murderer as well.
The Fuller Brush Man has two good scenes. The first is in Red's apartment where he's trying to keep Blair, Brooke, Jergens and others apart from each other and the cops. Second is a madcap chase through a warehouse with everyone else chasing Red and Janet.
I hope Louis B. Mayer got enough money to offset what Columbia took in for The Fuller Brush Man. A lot of laughs, a must for Skelton fans.
Back in the 40s there were 3 things sold door to door by intrepid salesmen, encyclopedias, vacuum cleaners, and those brushes from Fuller. As sleazy Don McGuire points out to Red it takes personality which Red has, but not to sell anything but laughs.
Red's previous job before Fuller was a sanitation worker, but he insults Sanitation Commissioner Nicholas Joy and later is present in the house when Joy is murdered. One of Red's brushes is the weapon, but how it was used I can't say. Red was in a houseful of suspects and he looks like just the patsy for good size frame.
Columbia put three of its best female contract players with Red. Janet Blair plays the girl McGuire keeps trying to steal from him. Hillary Brooke and Adele Jergens were at the murder scene, a pair of femme fatales if I ever saw one.
In fact there's more than one and one obviously clichéd murderer as well.
The Fuller Brush Man has two good scenes. The first is in Red's apartment where he's trying to keep Blair, Brooke, Jergens and others apart from each other and the cops. Second is a madcap chase through a warehouse with everyone else chasing Red and Janet.
I hope Louis B. Mayer got enough money to offset what Columbia took in for The Fuller Brush Man. A lot of laughs, a must for Skelton fans.