Jack Buchanan with the Glee Quartet

What's wrong with you people? Senses must be numbed from watching all those yawn-inducing "Beaver" re-runs. It's a highly contrived premise, of course (even Seinfeld is contrived. What kind of comedy isn't?). Every time I watch it I marvel at the comic timing and wonder how many times they had to rehearse this business. This stuff is no more silly than anything Charlie Chaplin ever did, and I could imagine how someone like Red Skelton would ruin it with his imbecilic mugging and posing. Lucille Ball got rich and famous doing the same silly stuff, but with little of the same polish. The only thing that didn't surprise me the first time I saw this was the big gal at the end. You could see that one coming.

Jack Buchanan with the Glee Quartet (1930)

** (out of 4)

Jack Buchanan is introduced to us during the opening credits as "The Internation Musical-Comedy Superstar" but the film itself really doesn't live up to the hype. Buchanana introduces himself to the viewer by saying that the famous Glee Quartet is missing a member so he's going to fill in. From here we see the four men on stage singing and dancing but of course Buchanan can't get into step with them and messes everything up. When you watch these old Vitaphone shorts you never really know who you're going to see. Something they feature legendary musicians, up and coming actors or people who were big on Vaudeville but never caught on in movies. If you look up Buchanan on IMDb you'll see that he not only wrote music and sang but also worked as an actor, a writer, a director and several other positions. It would be unfair me to judge his entire career from just one film but I certainly wasn't overly impressed. I found his comic timing to be off during the comedy scenes and none of the dance numbers were all that impressive. The scenes of him "dancing out of his shoes" just weren't funny and I didn't care for either song performed. At just 6-minutes the film thankfully goes by rather quick so you at least don't have to put up with too much. A curio to film buffs but the rest can avoid.

I remember seeing, and liking, Jack Buhanan in the movie As Long As They're Happy and so was much looking forward to this Vitaphone Varieties short. Jack introduces this brief short by telling the audience that one of the members of the Glee Quartet is indisposed and he will be taking the regular member's place even though he has not had a chance to rehearse with the Quartet. Although he assures the audience that nothing will go wrong, he asks the audience for their understanding. With this set-up, of course everything will go wrong as Jack is completely unfamiliar with the Quartet's routine - he is completely out of sync with the group's musical numbers. Not only that but he loses his shoes and then his cuffs. The two songs they perform are just not that interesting. And the final "joke" with the overweight young woman was just not funny. While I'm glad I saw this and may watch it again (it's only about seven minutes), it was a bit of a disappointment.

In this Vitaphone short, Jack Buchanan plays the fourth member of the Glee Quartet. However, unlike the very well synchronized other three, Buchanan seems to have no idea what he's doing and is never in sync with their movements. In the process he loses his shoes, his cuffs and his crib notes. It's all supposed to be quite funny--though the idea isn't enough to sustain the film. Then they are joined by some ladies and the short ends on a fat joke.

All in all, this is a one joke short--and the joke itself isn't great and it falls flat well before the film ends. Not super-funny and not especially entertaining. I guess you can't win 'em all.

When this short film begins, Jack Buchanan comes out from behind the curtain to explain that he is substituting for one of the four guys in the Glee Quartet and he didn't have time to rehearse. The quartet then enter the picture and sing a jaunty song...while Buchanan screws it up. Overall, a cute little film...nothing life changing but enjoyable and simple.