Next Door Neighbors (1931) User Reviews

Good Fences Make Good Neighbors

[boblipton · 7/10 · 5 June 2019]

Edgar Kennedy is a composer. With his wife, Mabel Forest (contrary to the cast list on the IMDb) he has just moved into a two-family house. He's trying to write a tune, but needs quiet. The phone keeps ringing -- in the other apartment, where new neighbor Arthur Housman, is trying to sleep off a hangover while his wife, Pert Kelton is straightening up. The phone keeps ringing for Kennedy, so there's a lot of tramping back and forth over the picket fence that landlord Franklin Pangborn is trying to assemble, breaking the slats.

It's a highly amusing sound version of the sort of rising destruction that film fans will recognize from Laurel & Hardy, shorts like BIG BUSINESS and TIT FOR TAT, only instead of two sides, there are three. The three star comedians in this Pathe short do a fine job in this comedy of frustration and destruction.

Worth seeing for Mr Pangborn's performance

[levitytheater · 10 November 2004]

I have a 16mm print of this 2 reeler, and it still holds up well as far as the comedy goes. Ed Kennedy is great, the pace is steady (though a bit predictable), but what really makes the film is Franklin Pangborn's performance as the Landlord.

All through the film he's trying to assemble a picket fence while his son looks on. But everyone keeps walking over it, and poor Pangborn does his best during the repeated onslaughts to maintain his decorum and not lose his temper. The typical Pangbornian flourishes start to show as his fence becomes steadily ramshackle. The film ends with a great closeup of Mr P, seemingly about to assault the camera lens.

Interestingly, Mr Pangborn gets top billing over Mr Kennedy on the original credits.

A real rarity, this 2 reeler.

A pale imitation of a good comedy.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 8 June 2011]

In the 1930s, Laurel & Hardy made some wonderful shorts involving misunderstandings with neighbors that ended up with them destroying each other's property. Films such as "Big Business" and "Tit for Tat" are classics--and among the team's best work. This same basic story idea is used in "Next Door Neighbors" but with an odd comedy duo--Edgar Kennedy and Arthur Housman. Now using Kennedy made sense, as he was a frequent foil in many comedies--including many of Laurel & Hardy's. However, Houseman was an odd choice. Aside from a few shorts with Kennedy, Housman always played drunks in films--and was very good at it. Here, however, he was totally out of his element and seemed to have little comedic flair.

The film finds Kennedy working hard at home to compose a song while his next door neighbor, Housman, has a headache (not apparently liquor-induced) and wants peace and quiet. However, Housman's telephone keeps ringing--and the calls are for Kennedy. So what do you do in a case like this? Yep, you start destroying each other's homes! This makes no sense at all, as their motivation appears lacking--an important problem with such a film. In addition, there is a plot involving their landlord, Franklin Pangborn, that simply isn't funny. While the overall package is watchable, it is not even close to the quality of the Laurel & Hardy films with similar plots.

If you are interested, take a look at the lady playing Housman's wife. She's Pert Kelton--the lady who played the first Alice Kramden on "The Jackie Gleason Show".

The Composer and the Headache

[Michael_Elliott · 27 February 2016]

Next Door Neighbors (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Mr. Green (Edgar Kennedy) is trying to compose his latest tune but the non-stop noise is distracting him. His neighbor, Mr. Andrews (Arthur Housman) is suffering from a headache and needs quiet. Pretty soon the two men are going back and forth while their poor landlord (Franklin Pangborn) has non-stop damage done to his property.

The feuding neighbors was a very popular form of comedy during the silent era with Laurel and Hardy perfecting it in their style. This short here is a low-budget attempt to recreate that magic and while this two reeler isn't a classic there are enough funny moments to make it worth watching. I think the film would have benefited from being a one reeler because the majority of the jokes get played over and over and over to the point where the film seems long winded. Still, Kennedy is in fine form as is Pangborn and there are some nice laughs along the way.