Benny, from Panama

In the last few scenes of Benny from Panama, when his old sailor buddy shows up at the hotel room, he brings along a pesky mosquito. This mosquito character is surely a groundbreaking attempt at integrating cartoon animation into film with live actors. Also, the mosquito from Panama attacks and bites the sailor's toe while he's sleeping on the couch. The close-up camera shot of his toe, enhanced by animated throbbing, was very cute and novel for the day. There are about 8-10 close-ups of the mosquito, which are cartoon-like and have varying scale, but the use of the characterization of an annoyed and irritated mosquito is something all viewers can relate to and makes the scene in the hotel room very funny.

Besides the Our Gang films, Spanky also appeared in several features and shorts for other studios or Hal Roach himself during his time in the gang. This was one of Hal Roach's other shorts that's not part of the Our Gang series Spanky appeared in. He wears a sailor suit and throws a muddy boot to the newlyweds as they leave for their destination at the beginning of the short. He later then appears as one of several of the wedding guests that come uninvited to their hotel room. The rest of the short has the married couple getting interrupted by the title character who arrives with his fellow sailors and a mosquito (probably animated by Roach staffer Roy Seawright). Also, fellow hotel guest Arthur Housman-playing his usual drunk-also comes in after being bothered by the commotion from downstairs. I think I've said enough so on that note, I recommend Benny, from Panama.

What a time Eddie Foy, Jr., and Jeanette Loff have trying to consummate their marriage. First, Jeanette's wedding dress catches fire as the happy couple traipse down the church steps; then Spanky from the Our Gang comedies hurls a muddy shoe that hits the lucky groom right in the kisser, followed by a frantic Key Stone Cops type chase down the streets of Hollywood; then to top it all uninvited guests--a multitude--drop in on the newlyweds. When the room finally clears and Eddie and Jeanette get ready to have a real wedding night, Benny from Panama, Eddie's old war buddy, arrives with a crew of sailors and an extremely animated and agitated mosquito.

Fans of old-time slapstick, Hal Roach style, are in for a treat. The last scene with a room full of assorted characters including the bride and groom attempting to swat the pesky insect is hilarious and shows the audience where the term "slap stick" originated.

Benny from Panama (1934)

** (out of 4)

This short is part of the "Hal Roach's All-Stars" series and features Jeanette Loff and Eddie Foy, Jr., who play newlyweds that fall into one disaster after another. Just as they get settled into their hotel their friends show up to party until the middle of the night and then things get worse when Benny (James P. Burtis), an old friend of Eddie's shows up for some more partying. This was the first film from the series that I've seen and I must say that I hope the others are much better. This certainly isn't an awful short but there's still not enough laughs to carry its 20-minute running time. I think the best portion of the film happens at the start when the two are married and right off the bat her dress catches fire and she has to strip in the back of the car only to then get pulled over by the police. These sequences are things we've seen in countless earlier Roach films but they're given some new life here and the viewer gets a couple laughs. I think the weakest portion of the final are the final ten-minutes or so once the "friends" come over and destroy everything. The stuff with the party guests simply aren't funny and things don't get any better once Benny shows up. What's even worse is an animated sequence involving a Panama mosquito but the laughs still don't come. Both Foy and Loff are in fine form but one wishes they had more to work with. Spanky from the Our Gang shorts has a quick cameo.

This 2-reeler from the legendary Hal Roach Studios is, honestly, not that great. But it is great fun to seek out those elements in the film that can be thought of as belonging to the modus operandi of Roach films in general, and Laurel and Hardy films in specific (L&H of course made all their classics at Hal Roach).

For example, every sound film Laurel and Hardy made at Roach has, as its soundtrack, selections from a small group of humorous, tinny sounding melodies played by a small brass and string ensemble. The exact same tunes show up in every single L&H movie. Here, the opening credit music and closing music are the same tune, taken from this very collection.

The most notable character in "Benny, from Panama", is the great Arthur Housman, playing the drunk husband who lives on the floor below that upon which most of the action takes place. Housman spent his entire career playing drunks, for me most memorably in the classic L&H short "The Fixer-Uppers".

Other recognizable elements include (1) an enormous Oliver Hardy-sized fall into a bathtub; (2) bizarre physical deformation humor (a literally throbbing big toe that expands and shrinks like a balloon); (3) people walking into walls randomly, and so on, pretty much with the exact pacing and sounds and facial reactions that you would find in any Laurel and Hardy movie.

Of course, this is not accidental. This short was directed by James Parrott, who directed a huge number of L&H shorts, silent and sound, and so it is not surprising that there are so many similarities. Yet these elements are fun to look for. Otherwise, other than a few slapstick gags, "Benny from Panama" is not particularly funny, and the experimental use of a cartoon mosquito to pester and dive-bomb the large crowds of people inside the main room is, though interesting, not really effective effective.