Backs to Nature

Backs to Nature (1933)

** (out of 4)

Another not-so-good short from Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly. This time out they play city girls who can't wait for their vacation to start because they're going to the country for some peace and quiet. As you'd expect, once in the country Kelly gets into one mess after another. A fellow reviewer called Kelly one of the loudest comedians and this is certainly a true statement. Laurel, Abbott and various other comedians could play stupid so well because they made it seem natural, which isn't the case with Kelly. It seems like she tries way too hard and goes way over-the-top and it gets to the point where she's not funny but instead just annoying. I can't sit here and say I dislike all of her films because there are some I do like but I'm starting to notice that the ones that don't work are usually do to either a poor screenplay or Kelly trying too hard and becoming annoying. Here we get a mixture of Kelly not working but it's also a poor screenplay, which gives us typical jokes that you'd expect to see but does very little with them. Kelly goes to cut wood and ends up cutting a tree down on their tent. They try to cook corn but it starts to pop. They're told to put the food away and a bear ends up in their tent. This is certainly far from a bad short but there are much better out there.