Mr. Lemon of Orange

Are you an El Brendel fan? Then this picture is for you. Myself, not so much. His schtick, as they say in show biz, is OK in small doses; he's funny to a point. A whole movie is another matter and, after a few minutes, becomes overkill.

"Mr. Lemon Of Orange" is a whole movie of El Brendel and his Swedish accent. Although a pretty clever idea, it soon enough shoots holes in itself and becomes tiresome. Consider the storyline; a clerk in a magic store is a dead ringer for a big-time gangster, with the expected results. You can hear him in his (almost) normal voice as the gangster, and he sounds like Bogart doing Bogart. But most of the time he is mistaken for the gangster in his Swedish accent, and the device wears thin after a while - how could his gang not think something was amiss with their boss talking with an accent?

Most of the best lines belong to his (the clerk's) father-in-law, played by William Collier, Sr. He had some priceless one-liners and was the main reason for my rating. Fifi D'Orsay plays the gangster's girl friend, and, with her thick french accent coupled with his Swedish one made their scenes together tough to decipher. The picture is just funny enough for the 70 minutes running time. Shown in 35 mm at Capitolfest, Rome NY, 8/13.