It's a satirical short from Pete Smith. First, it's the Wotaphony Newsreel and it's a lot car/plane action. Then it's a sarcastic narration with silent film A Bird in the Hand. It could be funnier. It has potential for better. What I like more is some of the snippets inserted into the flick. The ridiculous flying machines are just fun and the train almost runs over that stunt group. Quite frankly, I would love to have a series of ridiculous flying machines or a series of dangerous stunts.
4 Reviews
These mindless mishmashes mangle historic film . . .
pixrox129 January 2022
Warning: Spoilers
. . . just as much as Red China is currently getting away with changing the endings of all of America's best-loved flicks, such as showing Rhett and Red celebrating their Golden Wedding Anniversary surrounded by their 12 kids and 96 grandchildren. As people frequently say, what's sauce for the missus ought to be sauce for the mister. Consequently, if we're faulting the Communists for tampering with our History, we should NOT be screening crud from a jerk named Smith.
Your Mileage May Vary
boblipton26 October 2019
Like the other reviewer, I'm not fond of the many shorts of the 1930s and early 1940s which mine silent movie clips only to mock. I disagree with his assessment that it's so particularly horrid. Certainly, the series of similarly themed shorts from Warner Brothers in the period are worse.
More than that, some of the clips are amusing, like the sequence of early autogyros, and Pete Smith's snarky, nasal narration, with its corny jokes bring a smile to my face. Add in the occasional, seemingly random clips that take the audience from exploding dirigibles -- this is before the Hindenberg disaster, so it would not be terrifying to contemporary viewers -- to a man in a diving suit, and the results are silly.
More than that, some of the clips are amusing, like the sequence of early autogyros, and Pete Smith's snarky, nasal narration, with its corny jokes bring a smile to my face. Add in the occasional, seemingly random clips that take the audience from exploding dirigibles -- this is before the Hindenberg disaster, so it would not be terrifying to contemporary viewers -- to a man in a diving suit, and the results are silly.
One of the Worst Shorts I've Seen
Michael_Elliott13 January 2011
Goofy Movies Number Five (1934)
1/2 (out of 4)
As the title says, this is the fifth film in Pete Smith's Goofy Movies series, which is basically an excuse to show silent movie clips with his narration added to tell a fake story. We start off with a fake newsreel showing a 30-year-old automobile that still runs as well as a plane trying to land without a pilot. The "feature" story involves a man trying to marry the woman he loves. Many silent buffs downright hate anything that makes fun of silent movies but I wouldn't go that far. I've seen around half a dozen of these GOOFY MOVIES films and there's no question that they're hit and miss but this one here is without question the worst I've seen and only one of the worst shorts I've seen from this era. There's not a single redeeming factor to this short as it contains one unfunny joke after another and the editing is quite poor as well. I say this because the fake newsreel uses clips from various films and tries to piece the action together. The car starts off from one film but an obviously different car is used later on. The same with the plane. When we see it flying it's one model then when it crashes it's obviously something else. I've always loved Smith's narration but it adds nothing here.
1/2 (out of 4)
As the title says, this is the fifth film in Pete Smith's Goofy Movies series, which is basically an excuse to show silent movie clips with his narration added to tell a fake story. We start off with a fake newsreel showing a 30-year-old automobile that still runs as well as a plane trying to land without a pilot. The "feature" story involves a man trying to marry the woman he loves. Many silent buffs downright hate anything that makes fun of silent movies but I wouldn't go that far. I've seen around half a dozen of these GOOFY MOVIES films and there's no question that they're hit and miss but this one here is without question the worst I've seen and only one of the worst shorts I've seen from this era. There's not a single redeeming factor to this short as it contains one unfunny joke after another and the editing is quite poor as well. I say this because the fake newsreel uses clips from various films and tries to piece the action together. The car starts off from one film but an obviously different car is used later on. The same with the plane. When we see it flying it's one model then when it crashes it's obviously something else. I've always loved Smith's narration but it adds nothing here.
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