tavm Review of Tall, Dark and Gruesome

Tall, Dark and Gruesome (1948)

Tall, Dark and Gruesome has some good gags but gets too frantic to be very funny

[5/10 · 16 September 2009]

I just watched this rare Columbia short comedy on YouTube. It stars Hugh Herbert and Dudley Dickerson as a playwright and butler, respectively. Written by comedy stylist Clyde Bruckman and directed by Del Lord, Tall, Dark and Gruesome has some funny gags when they're in an apartment with Herbert trying to write while riveters are on the street below (which sound like bullets which is suitable since he's a mystery author) and he's wearing earmuffs then we switch to a cabin with a gorilla being delivered and things go downhill from there especially with too much of everyone getting scared (especially Dickerson who's playing the typical black stereotype of the time of the race being a fearful bunch). And there's not really much of a point of having people in costume mixed up in this. So, in summation, Tall, Dark and Gruesome is a bit too frantic for its own good.