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Review of Surprise!

Surprise! (1935)
3/10
A So-So Racially Insensitive Short
5 July 2008
Based on other comments, this Vitaphone short features the Duncan Sisters, who, apparently were fairly well known in vaudeville, not well known in film.

You are definitely required to ignore a few things - like women in their late 30's to early 40's are attending college - but live in the deep South without a trace of a Southern accent. Rosie looks closer to her age than the age of a college coed, Vivian looks younger than her years.

This old plantation that they are supposed to be from has to be reached by horse and carriage. The Duncans arrive home to a surprise costume party. The sisters want to surprise the party goers by changing into costumes that they conveniently brought home from school. Some of the humor involves an exploding cigar, so don't expect to see any writing credits by Robert Benchley or Dorothy Parker.

There are people in blackface, so be prepared to be offended. One song about the Volga River flowing through Dixie has the word "darkies" There is also someone dressed as Simon Legree, holding a bullwhip to add to the offensiveness.

For the most part, this is pretty forgettable - except for the racist stereotypes, those should be remembered to see what was "acceptable", how far we've come from that, and how far we still need to go.
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