Don't Believe It (1930) User Reviews

Good Final Gag

[boblipton · 5/10 · 12 April 2024]

James Gleason has been drinking so heavily that instead of meeting his wife to see a show called FLORIDA, he took the train to the state. Now he is back home, still sozzled, and Mrs. Gleason and brother John Litel decide to pull a gag on him in which a ring turns him invisible, allowing them to discuss their concerns freely.

It's a silly premise for a slight movie, but the actors make the most of it, with Gleason doing a fine drunk act, and his real wife, Lucille, playing his wife here. The voice performances seem a bit mechanical, indicating that the crew is still not comfortable with sound production.

Not as funny as I'd hoped.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 12 April 2024]

In the early 1930s, there were a few studios which made shorts which were clearly inferior to those being made by Hal Roach. One of these was Al Christie Productions and I've never seen a Christie film I loved...and so I wasn't all that surprised when "Don't Believe It" failed to hit the mark.

This short stars the real life married couple, James and Lucile Gleason. While James is the much more famous of the two (partly because he lived longer), the pair had been a team for years and it's nice to see them working together.

James is an alcoholic. While the film seems to make light of this, he's an alcoholic as he drinks all the time AND instead of arriving home to take his wife to a play called 'Florida', he wakes up after a bender IN Florida! So James brother and the wife decide to play a trick on him in order to teach him a lesson and the trick involves James supposedly becoming invisible.

The biggest problem with this film is that there are lots of opportunities to make all this funny...but they never materialize. A curiosity but not a movie I particularly liked.

James and Lucile Gleason in early-sound comedy short

[django-1 · 8/10 · 26 December 2004]

An Al Christie production distributed by Paramount (billed as "A Christie Talking Play"), this was directed by William Watson (later director of many shorts at Educational, and previously director of many silents) and stars the husband and wife team of Lucile and James Gleason (they had a son, Russell, who was also very active in show business). James plays a drunk throughout the short--at first, he is at a club with his friends tying one on. He remembers that he has to meet his wife to see a play called FLORIDA. Lucile is waiting at home for him to return. James drinks so much that he winds up IN Florida, and vanishes for a week! In the meantime, James' brother played by John Litel comes to help Lucile. When James eventually gets home, Litel gets him to put on a ring that (he thinks) makes him invisible, and John and Lucile act as if James isn't there, talking about him in such a way as to get the message about his drinking across. Although somewhat creaky and from the early sound days, this short is quite funny...IF you like extended drunk routines a la Foster Brooks or Jack Norton. It starts off with an odd glee-club vocal (!!!) during the credit sequence and seems more dated than many silents (where can I get an art-deco clock like the one shown in close-up to begin one scene!). The teaming of the two Gleasons with John Litel, best known for his dramatic roles, works very well, and I can safely recommend this obscure short to any fan of early-sound comedy shorts.