The Dummy Owner (1938) User Reviews

The Horse Laughs

[boblipton · 6/10 · 10 September 2019]

In this episode of his long-running RKO shorts series, Leon Errol is a dummy owner of a race horse; that is, he is fronting for his boss, lest the company's owners get suspicious of whose money is involved. Maxine Jennings -- Leon's married to her in this go-around -- objects to his spending money on horses when he could be spending money on her, and so he sells her -- the horse, that is -- to Eddie Kane.

It's not one of Leon's better shorts; he's much better in the shorts where he gets himself into trouble, and then jitters his way out. Still, for seventeen minutes you get some good comedy shtick from Leon's veteran team of Clem Beauchamps, George Jesske, and director Jean Yarborough.

Series semi-regular Billy Franey appears in this one, not as Leon's father-in-law, but as a racetrack tout.

A bit underrated....and enjoyable.

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 4 May 2020]

During the 1930s-50s, Leon Errol made a long string of comedy shorts for RKO Studios. While I'd never consider them comedy gems, the films have been, overall, quite clever and enjoyable. And, in most, this Australian comic plays a man who manages to always irritate his long-suffering wife!

In "The Dummy Owner", Leon's boss wants to buy a race horse. However, he doesn't want folks to know he bought it...and so he puts the ownership papers in Leon's name. Leon has no problem about this until the boss tells him to tell no one about the arrangement...not even the wife! Not surprisingly, huge complications ensue!

This is a clever and enjoyable short....and I think it's a tad underrated with an over score of 5.5 currently on IMDB.

Errol's got the horse right here....

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 21 November 2014]

And even though his name appears in the papers when it wins, it is only through default, having agreed to "temporarily" claim ownership for it. The horse wins and Errol's nasty, nagging wife is violently opposed to him owning a horse. So now he must figure a way to get it back to its owner, and more confusion happens when it ends up being disqualified from a race it won. The funniest moments of this weak short occur as the camera focuses on Errol battling the crowds watching the race and his being trapped after having fallen down with his hand trapped under an enthusiastic viewer who doesn't even feel Errol biting his leg. The rest leaves much to be desired as far as quick, inconsequential comedy is concerned, relatively unfunny and even a bit nasty. Errol was supposed to represent the "every man" in these quota quickies, so there had to be a few worms in his barrel of apples.

Pretty Good Short Comedy

[Snow Leopard · 12 August 2002]

This is a pretty good Leon Errol short comedy, combining some of his usual hen-pecked husband scenes with some new material. It starts when Leon is named as the "Dummy Owner" of a racehorse that was purchased by his boss. This setup creates several predicaments and plenty of confusion for Leon as he tries to adjust to his new role. Most of it is pretty good, and not too predictable. Although there are no big laughs, it is entertaining and keeps your attention easily.