The Man Around the House (1955)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
Mildly amusing, if highly unoriginal comedy short has Pete Smith narrating about the "man of the house" who just happens not to be all that bright. The man (Dave O'Brien) tries to fix various objects around the house including a table with uneven legs, a phone stool and then a tree that keeps dropping plums on his clean car. After that business is done he must try and pull his youngest son's tooth and learn to play ball with his oldest. THE MAN AROUND THE HOUSE is the typical type of comedy that you'd expect from both O'Brien and Smith. As you'd expect, Smith does his typical silly narration and he's as charming as ever as he explains what's going on while at the same time throwing at sarcastic remarks. O'Brien has never really gotten enough credits in terms of being a comedy director and actor but he also turns in a fine performance as his comic timing is right on the spot. The biggest thing going against the picture is the simple fact that we've seen this type of story way too many times before and nothing new is done here.
