There is a mistake in the casting notice for this short, part of "The Boy Friends" Series, on this thread. Charlie Hall is not a painter, but is a successful glider flyer. He does get dosed, in the course of the last half of the film, with paint several times, but he is not a painter himself.
The boys and their two dim-witted female friends are out on a weekend jaunt when they come across a large field used by glider enthusiasts. Mary and Gertrude want an opportunity to photograph Grady in a glider, and he is willing - but the glider they try to use is Hall's. He knows them (and distinctly is sure he doesn't wish to know them) through his assistant, Mickey. But using their sweetest wiles, they get Hall's agreement to allow them to photograph Grady in the glider. Unfortunately, earlier, Hall had given a rough order to Mickey to hook up a glider to the bumper of Dave's car for a flight. Mickey gets confused and hooks up the glider that Grady is still sitting in while being photographed. As a result Grady is soon aloft, and does not know how to fly the damned thing.
One of the best moments (brief as it is) is when Dave, yelling from the back seat of his car, tries to demonstrate to Grady how to use the front control stick to lower the glider. All it does is cause Grady to loop-the-loop several times. Then there is a running joke about trying to get Grady to jump into a blanket or onto various pillows and pads on the ground, so he won't break his neck. Each time Grady, notes what Dave and Mickey (and some others) are trying to do, and notes how each time these guys (all on the ground or on roofs) fall and seem to injure themselves. Sutton at each of these apparent mishaps, looks up at the camera with the same stoic helplessness and wisdom shown by Oliver Hardy at some of Stan Laurel's helpful activities. But then both Sutton and Hardy were part of the wonderful world of Hal Roach, and both were being photographed and directed by George Stevens. So this behavior is perfectly understandable...under the circumstances.
As for Mr. Hall, he does get to have some fun moments too, including driving (if you can call it that) a motorcycle across the field with a paint can on his head. This too makes one recall his history crossing into the world of Stan and Ollie.
Note too here and in the previously discussed short, CALL A COP, that the music that is used in the background is very familiar. You have heard it all in the Stan and Ollie shorts before this.
Very amusing, but the lack of adequate character build-up again makes it something worth watching once, but hardly worth studying and returning to.
The boys and their two dim-witted female friends are out on a weekend jaunt when they come across a large field used by glider enthusiasts. Mary and Gertrude want an opportunity to photograph Grady in a glider, and he is willing - but the glider they try to use is Hall's. He knows them (and distinctly is sure he doesn't wish to know them) through his assistant, Mickey. But using their sweetest wiles, they get Hall's agreement to allow them to photograph Grady in the glider. Unfortunately, earlier, Hall had given a rough order to Mickey to hook up a glider to the bumper of Dave's car for a flight. Mickey gets confused and hooks up the glider that Grady is still sitting in while being photographed. As a result Grady is soon aloft, and does not know how to fly the damned thing.
One of the best moments (brief as it is) is when Dave, yelling from the back seat of his car, tries to demonstrate to Grady how to use the front control stick to lower the glider. All it does is cause Grady to loop-the-loop several times. Then there is a running joke about trying to get Grady to jump into a blanket or onto various pillows and pads on the ground, so he won't break his neck. Each time Grady, notes what Dave and Mickey (and some others) are trying to do, and notes how each time these guys (all on the ground or on roofs) fall and seem to injure themselves. Sutton at each of these apparent mishaps, looks up at the camera with the same stoic helplessness and wisdom shown by Oliver Hardy at some of Stan Laurel's helpful activities. But then both Sutton and Hardy were part of the wonderful world of Hal Roach, and both were being photographed and directed by George Stevens. So this behavior is perfectly understandable...under the circumstances.
As for Mr. Hall, he does get to have some fun moments too, including driving (if you can call it that) a motorcycle across the field with a paint can on his head. This too makes one recall his history crossing into the world of Stan and Ollie.
Note too here and in the previously discussed short, CALL A COP, that the music that is used in the background is very familiar. You have heard it all in the Stan and Ollie shorts before this.
Very amusing, but the lack of adequate character build-up again makes it something worth watching once, but hardly worth studying and returning to.
