Candid Cameramaniacs

Candid Cameramaniacs (1937)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

This Pete Smith short from MGM spoofs the various types of photos that have been around throughout the years. We start off with a very brief history lesson talking about the first photos ever taken and then Smith, as his comments, take over as we see various forms of funny moments coming from the camera. This includes those old-time pictures where the husband is sitting and the wife standing and more current stuff dealing with a father trying to get his family to sit still long enough for him to snap the picture. I've seen dozens of shorts from Smith and so far I'd have to call this here is the least entertaining. I think this is the first time I've ever watched one of his shorts where I didn't at least laugh once. I'm really not sure what happened during the production of this thing but the spoken words by Smith just aren't that funny and none of the images we see are funny either. The brief history lesson isn't enough to carry the film and it's pretty bad with a short 8-minutes drag along.

As far as Pete Smith Specialty shorts go, this was a pretty good one. It's all about fun with early photography. Some history is given, including that of Frenchman Louis Daguerre, who, it can be argued, took the first practical photograph in the early 1800's.

As usual, Pete tries for laughs as we follow a modern (for the 1930's), family man photographer as he annoys his family, trying to get them to pose for his photographic obsession. If you've ever seen a Pete Smith short, you know what I mean by "tries for laughs". If the kind of stuff Pete did was considered funny in the 1930's, I don't know, but his humor definitely falls under the "groaner" banner in the 21st century.

Overall, I'd say this hits the upper end of the Pete Smith scale. Of course, that's not saying a lot.