The Wrong, Wrong Trail

This is yet another of Shemp Howard's film appearances after he initially left Ted Healy and His Stooges but before returning to the fold after his brother Curly suffered a stroke. The stars here are the comedy team of Jesse Block and Eva Sully who didn't last long in film. They're quite funny here, he as a just graduated detective, she as a nurse at a sanitarium who isn't all there. Shemp is one of the patients as he carries a "piano" from one area to another with another patient. Overall, I found The Wrong, Wrong, Trail quite funny during much of the running time.

Aside from a cute ending, this comedy short left me totally cold. When the film begins, Detective Block (Jesse Block) just got his diploma from some fly by night detective school. When he asks them where he should start, they tell him to go see Dr. Jordan. What Block doesn't know is that this is a mental institution and the residents all behave like the stupidest stereotypes of the mentally ill. It's all supposed to be very funny....but wasn't. The broad humor fell flat and the film would have gotten a 3 but earned an extra point for the ending...which I thought was clever AND it meant the end of this misfire.

By the way, Jesse Block never made a name for himself and only appeared in one other film, "Kid Millions", an Eddie Cantor flick.