Kill the Umpire

Rambunctious little comedy proving that Bendix could mug it up with the best of them. Baseball nut Johnson (Bendix) keeps losing jobs because of his baseball mania. So ex-umpire and Grandad (Ray Collins) pulls strings to get Johnson into ump's school. After graduation, the new ump is assigned to extra-tough Texas League, where he gets a big un-welcome, to say the least. Meanwhile, the gags and schticks fly fast and furious. That's no surprise, since the writer is cult favorite Frank Tashlin in one of his early outings. Note the number of sight gags, a Tashlin specialty. Also, veteran director Lloyd Bacon really knows how to keep a comedy from dragging, so there's never the proverbial dull moment. Keep your ears open because Tashlin and Bacon sneak in a couple of very un-1950's innuendos-- one with the crossed telephone wires, and the other which flies by quickly with the Indian pulling his fat wife on a travois. I had to re-run the tape twice to be sure I'd put that gag together correctly-- apparently it was fleeting enough to get by the censors. Anyway, the movie's related to the spate of occupation comedies of the period, all of which end in whirlwind madcap. I recall enjoying the film as a boy (even if I missed the innuendos) and am glad to discover that I enjoyed it as least as much as an oldster. Recommended.