Ship Ahoy

Ship Ahoy (1929)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Pat West is the star of this 9-minute Vitaphone short that features the performer re-creating his vaudeville act. Whenever one goes into these shorts you never really know what you're going to get other than a recorded performance of a part of history that has mostly been forgotten. The acts are either going to be entertaining or they're going to be really bad but more often than not they're at least interesting to watch. I found West's act to be pretty good and this includes a rather nice version of "Dumb Dora" that has the performer singing it well but also acting out some funny bits. I also thought the comedy routine was better than what you typically see in these shorts. This includes a sequence where West is joking on his family including his drunk father as well as fat women. I guess these are some of the earliest fat jokes to ever be recorded for film. Again, there's nothing ground-breaking here but the film is entertaining in its own way and West manages to make you pay attention to him.