Vidas ambulantes

With the help of the eccentric Captain Calloway, a millionaire escapes from the asylum to which he was committed by his jilted bride-to-be and falls in with a travelling circus. A modest but enjoyable Hal Roach comedy in which anonymous leading man John Hubbard largely plays second fiddle to lead support, Adolphe Menjou. Hubbard's reaction when coming face-to-face with a lion is priceless, however...

This isn't a comedy for intellectuals, as they will no doubt find the film too silly and full of cheap slapstick to enjoy. However, if you are not a film snob and you give it a chance (especially at the beginning), you'll probably have a few laughs and enjoy yourself.

The film begins with a man (John Hubbard) about to marry. However, he's having cold feet and pretends to be crazy. During his crazy act, he overhears his fiancée say that she can't stand him and is only marrying him for his money. Before he can do anything about this, she decides, out of spite, to play up that he really is insane and has him placed in a mental institution. So far so good, though the film lags a bit in the sanitarium due to too many "crazy people" jokes.

Hubbard can't get out despite his attempts to convince the chief of staff that he is sane. In this "rest home" for the rich, Hubbard meets Adolph Menjou--who isn't dangerous but certainly is rather crazy. Menjou LIKES living there but knows of a way out so they both escape together. Menjou's character is awfully broadly written at this point--laying on the mentally ill part a bit too thick, though he does settle down later in the film and is a good sidekick for Hubbard.

On the run, the two men meet up with Carole Landis and her traveling carnival. Things look great except that the awfully loud and untalented Patsy Kelly is with the carnival as well, though fortunately her role in the film isn't a big one. Plus, so much of the time she's avoiding the romantic overtures of George E. Stone ("Runt" from the Boston Blackie series), that she doesn't get that much of a chance to yell her lines. Landis welcomes the pair of escapees and they all become one big happy family. Things come to an interesting conclusion when Menjou directs him to the mansion of his rather cracked nephew, played by Charles Butterworth.

The film has a lot going for it other than the crazy jokes. The script is bouncy and fun, the supporting singers (The Charioteers) are amazingly fun to listen to and the film never gets dull. Certainly this isn't a great film, but it is fun--and isn't that what comedy is all about anyway?

FYI--Two things to look for: Adolph Menjou's amazing hat and Shemp Howard in a small role (before joining the Stooges in films) and he's billed as "Moe"!

This is an absolutely hilarious 1941 carnival farce that is relentlessly nutty. With a roster of character actors you will recognize from every 30s/40s screwball chase/society comedy, B grade 2 reeler and a million other scenes from every other silly Hollywood comedy of the pre TV period, ROAD SHOW, like Hellzapoppin, or The All American Co Ed each made the same year, shows clearly how there must have been a turn for the completely crazy after WW2 started and these 3 films led the new post Marx Bros wave of deliberately ridiculous and risqué comedies. I was tired and not very interested in watching all of this film when I lazily slotted it into the DVD. Within ten minutes I was laughing out loud and sat up... the film actually energized me into attention and shook me awake. Read the cast list, admire the excellent production values, relish the Mad Mad Mad World level antics and just plain enjoy 70 minutes of perfectly deliberately contrived chase/Carnival/society farces the Hal Roach Studio ever put on film. In a big theater this would have been hilarious and noisy to enjoy. The firetruck chase with Patsy Kelly aloft a loose ladder as they drive thu an orchard on their way past a fire to be at an art deco circus location... well what more can I say. Shemp Howard, crooning teenage Negroes, lions on the loose, Carole Landis singing, an amorous Indian, a taffy pulling machine, fantastic Packard cars, mansions, the nut house drunk at a dinner-party with 4 chicken legs on his plate, and snazzy fashions each only party reveal the treats in store. Find ROAD SHOW and have a really delicious long laugh. Adolph Menjou's droll shyster is as funny as anything WC Fields delivered. What a hilarious film! A close cinema relative would be Million Dollar legs or a lot of the Wheeler and Woolsey comedies of the early 30s. ROADSHOW is a very funny film.

One of the most bizarre movies I have ever seen. I checked it out because I read about Willie Best in Quentin Tarantino's new book 'Cinema Speculation' and you really cannot find many movies that he was in. Besides an astoundingly racist bit ('The food is over there, the watermelon is over there...' this whole story is just too weird, even for a screwball comedy. I was sad to read of the fate of Carole. Landis after I watched the movie. I might have to watch this again and I am not sure I can believe what I actually watched last night. I am not all that sensitive to comedic bits that offend the current 'woke' mindset in 2023, but this movie really pushes the envelope.

I really thought that it was impossible for a film starring Adolphe Menjou to be this bad. Menjou was capable of ably playing a variety of characters from villain to tarnished hero, and he was also very able at playing comedy. However, even the talented Menjou cannot save this film. The plot is that young wealthy playboy Drogo Gaines (John Hubbard) gets cold feet on his wedding day, and decides to pretend he is insane. His jilted bride retaliates by having him committed. In the asylum, Gaines meets Carleton Carroway (Adolphe Menjou), and together the two escape and join a traveling carnival. In time, and through a series of comic misadventures, Gaines falls for Penguin Moore (Carole Landis), the beautiful leader of the carnival.

The problem is that besides Menjou, the players are just not that talented, and the jokes are just not that funny. Also, neither the overall plot nor the mismatched romance is very compelling. Cut down to 20 minutes or so, this might have been an OK 1940's comic short, but at 70 minutes it just seems to drag on forever. Hal Roach was capable of much funnier stuff. I would definitely pass on this one.