Pulling a Bone (1931) User Reviews

George and Gracie are Pulling a Bone

[tavm · 9/10 · 6 July 2006]

Gracie's boss at the soda fountain tells her she's five minutes late. He also tells her to be polite to her customers or she'll be fired. Gracie asks her workmate if she could at least ask for a raise. A customer complains to manager about the service and refuses to pay. Manager says he'll accept that and offers to pay him two dollars to do the same to his competitor across the street. Customer says he got three dollars to do what he just did! George goes to a nearby perfume saleswoman and exclaims he has a bone in his throat. She tries to sell him some supplies. George goes to Gracie's corner and she talks about being on an airplane for six months. And trying to get a parasite. And laws of gravity. All this while George keeps exclaiming about "a bone in his throat"! Then Gracie gets busy with customers... Once again, Burns and Allen are amusing with the non-sequeters and puns and what have you. This was made right after their first (or second) short, Fit to Be Tied and even this early on George and Gracie are natural on screen. Definitely seek this out if you're a Burns and Allen fan!

Yeah, the first place I'd go if I was choking would be to a department store.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 26 January 2019]

Running around for 10 minutes claiming that he's got a bone in his throat, George Burns can't find help and he wonders why. He encounters a dizzy shop girl (veteran character actress Dorothy Adams in one of her early appearances), tie sales man Chester Clute and counter girl Gracie Allen who chews his ear off on every subject in the world are regardless of the bone in his throat. When he exclaims that she should go to the doctor, check to see if she has a brain and then fire the doctor if the doctor claims that she does, it's one of the few great burning insults of the history of movies.

Irregardless of the fact that Burns is constantly talking and not at all sounding like he's choking on anything, the only funny thing really about this short is the fact that the large collection of extras really don't seem to be concerned about his alleged plight. Gracie is actually only on screen for a few minutes, basically about a third of this short oh, so she really doesn't make any impact. There's nothing really funny in this even for a quick vaudeville sketch other than the fact that it shows that even in the 1930's, the public could literally ignore a man in peril and go about their business as if nothing else was happening.

The plot idea simply made no sense.

[planktonrules · 4/10 · 26 July 2020]

Throughout "Pulling a Bone", George Burns keeps telling everyone that he has a bone stuck in his throat. This is a stupid idea for a plot for many reasons. First, if this was the case, folks WOULD pay attention to him. Second, if he has a bone in his throat he'd be coughing and would have difficulty talking....but he never coughs and he talks and talks and talks. It really felt as if the plot was completely unnecessary in this one...even more so than the other Burns & Allen shorts. That's saying a lot as the plots of their others are awfully thin as well!

So, despite this, is it any good? Not especially...mostly because it just didn't seem very funny. Overall, a disappointing picture...one you could easily skip.