"A Word to the Wives" not only stars a hyperactive Darren McGavin, but was directed by none other than Norman Lloyd. Most short films that were made during the 1950s had some type of product promotion or useful advice. However, it's not really all that clear what exactly is going on with this particular effort.
The plot? Jane (Janet Riley) is tired of her old house, so her friend Alice (Marsha Hunt) convinces her to take a few days off to see her mother and let Jane's husband George (McGavin) and her son Jimmy (no actor credit) suffer in the old house by themselves.
Without giving anything away, the acting by McGavin is so over-the-top even for him that it's rather perplexing. He is "acting" in the most obvious sense of the word and even looks into the camera at one point, breaking the fourth wall for no reason.
However, he is so bad, it's very funny and it carries over into the rest of the short film. There is no obvious product placement, apart from the water heater (another unintentionally hilarious scene) and the advice seems to be that if a wife really wants something expensive from her husband, trick him into buying it.
This particular short received new life this year when it was riffed by Mary Jo Pehl and Bridget Nelson for Rifftrax. Their riffing, particularly for the live MST3K Reunion was hilarious, but they had plenty of bad material to work with.
