A Straight Crook

One of the weaker examples of the usually dependable Eddie Boland comedies for Hal Roach. After a sputtering start, he's a bellhop in a hotel where a publicity hungry celebrity fakes having her jewelry stolen so she can see her name in the papers. The comedy titles are also pretty forced -- I doubt they were written by H.M. Walker! The first gag, though, is a very good one.

As Harold Lloyd moved into three reelers and features, Hal Roach needed someone to replace him in one- and two-reelers. He had already set up Snub Pollard with his own series and had tried an aborted series with Toto, filled out with Stan Laurel, but Lloyd's success made clear the market for the light comedian -- someone who could take a pratfall and woo the leading lady. So Roach gave Eddie Boland a series of shorts for a couple of years and they are actually good -- a mixed bag of gags -- but somehow they were never tremendously popular, so eventually he closed down the series and stuck his ace director, Charley Chase back in front of the camera.