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I thought I was familiar with all of Red Skelton's movies. When I saw the title come up , I assumed it was Ron Howard's Eat My Dust. While I always liked Ron , I was excited to find out this was a Red movie I had not seen. I agree 100% with another review that said a different title was needed.

Yes , as a musical, not in the upper tier , but not many are. The dance scene's brought Sally Forrest to the fore. My goodness, had never heard of her , but she dances up a storm. The same with Monica Lewis in the singing department. Dennis the Menace's father , Herbert Anderson was good in an assistant role , and Macdonald Carey was good also. When William Demarest would yell at Red , it immediately took me back to him yelling at Ernie or Chip.

All in all , was surprised how much I enjoyed it. Give it a look.

It's 1895 Willow Falls, Indiana. Inventor Joe Belden (Red Skelton) is creating his gasomobile. It's a horse-less carriage. Only, it never seems to work and he sets his own barn on fire. Liz Bullitt is his girlfriend. Her horse ranch owning father is opposed to him and prefers her other suitor Cyrus Ransom, Jr.

The biggest name in the credits seems to be Buster Keaton as an uncredited writer and director. I do wonder about the story behind the scene. There are a lot of cooks in this kitchen. I would probably work harder on getting better songs. They're ok but rather old fashion. They are songs from the late 19th century to the jazz age. Red Skelton is doing the good-natured goof without going too wacky. There is a car race at the end. It's not the most exciting, but it is interesting to see all the old cars. This is a nice lesser musical with little lasting effect.

A fun film that is not well known. No, no oscars for this, but a very good small scale musical with an electric Sally Forest. Why MGM didn't put her in more musicals is beyond me. Just as good as Vera Ellen and all the other MGM dancers. Pretty girl too!! Red Skelton is always good and nice seeing him in lead role instead of the side kick he generally played. For light hearted entertainment, this is a good one. You won't be disappointed!!!

Watching Excuse My Dust I couldn't help thinking that this would have been a better vehicle for that other redheaded comedian Danny Kaye. The character of the inventor would have suited Kaye's persona far better than Red Skelton.

That being said Red did well enough with this comedy set in those Gay Nineties when he's one of many people who are starting to experiment with the horseless carriage. He might not follow through well enough with the execution, but he's definitely got the right idea as he's got prototype vacuum cleaners and garbage disposal machines as well.

But when you're courting Sally Forrest and her father William Demarest makes his living with a livery stable that causes most of Red's problems. Not to mention pretentious vamp Monica Lewis who's from St. Louis, but her year abroad has her sporting a French accent.

I have to single out MacDonald Carey who looks like he was having a ball playing Red's rival in romance and racing. All Carey had to do was grow a handlebar mustache long enough for twirling. He was doing a great Snidely Whiplash.

Excuse My Dust is a pleasant enough Red Skelton comedy. Arthur Schwartz and Dorothy Fields wrote some rather forgettable songs. Danny Kaye could have gotten in on the musical numbers.

But Skelton fans will like this.

I love Sally Forrest. Sally Forrest is known mostly for her film noir films, especially those for director Ida Lupino. But Sally Forrest was a great dancer who was born to star in lavish MGM musicals. Just didn't happen...well...almost just didn't happen. Check out MGM's Excuse My Dust, a Red Skelton musical. Red Skelton was the poor man's Bob Hope and always seemed better suited for black-and-white B-movies like "The Fuller Brush Man." As a side kick opposite Ricardo Montalban or Esther Williams he seemed like Robin Williams in Sound of Music. Excuse My Dust tries to blend wacky slap stick and colorful musical and does all right. The highlight of the film is when Red imagines Sally Forrest in modern clothes doing a very sexy jazz dance. Sally Forrest had an unusual dance style that was like tap slowed down to jazz. This costumed turn-of-the-century musical is certainly Sally's most colorful film which at least shows off her musical talents as well as her legs. (See also "Son of Sinbad" for Sally's most sexy dance segment--another Sally Forrest film in color!, and "The Strip" a black-and-white Mickey Rooney film noir cheapie that features Miss Forrest as a nightclub dancer).