In the 1920s-50s, movie comedians often played nitwits. Think about Laurel & Hardy, Lou Costello, the Three Stooges, Bob Hope and others...they often played real dumb characters. But sometimes, such a character simply won't work because they are just too stupid...too stupid to be real and too stupid to like or connect with in any way. Such is the case with Red Skelton's character in "Public Pigeon No. 1".
When the story begins, you learn that Rusty (Skelton) and Edith (Janet Blair) have been going steady for six years! Why not get married? Well, because Rusty is incredibly dim and has a way about losing money. Now he's finally saved up $1500 (a large amount for 1957) and their marriage seems on the horizon. However, some not especially sophisticated or clever crooks end up swindling Rusty out of this money...which turned out to be pretty easy.
Later, Rusty learns that he's been swindled and goes to the police. However, a short time later he catches up with the criminals and instead of turning them in to the police, they convince him they are G-men! And, they convince him to work for them. Pretty soon, he's a dupe helping with their swindles...and soon the police catch Rusty and he goes to prison. What's next for this imbecile? Will he stay in prison for the next 20 years?!
As I mentioned above, I really think Skelton's character is too stupid to be funny. After all, even after being in prison for some time, he STILL thinks the crooks are G-men and he's on some sort of undercover mission for them! This, and a lot of humor that falls flat make this among Skelton's most tedious films because he simply is pathetic. It was so bad I really had to resist the urge to turn it off and find something better...which wouldn't have been difficult.
