Uppercutlets (1936) User Reviews

Dull, Cheap Short

[alonzoiii-1 · 3/10 · 16 March 2011]

Walter Cattlett wants to be a boxer, even though he looks to be 45, and is well on his way to an Oliver Hardy physique. His clever wife bribes the training gym (with $5,000) to convince him it's a bad idea. Will a series of daffy, but unfunny, supporting players doing daffy, but unfuinny things convince our hero that boxing is full of stupid, strange people, or has Catlett taken too many UPPER CUTLETS to the head to figure that out?

Brother, this is as misconceived a cinematic venture as one can find, and only remains tolerable because Catlett is good, though he is doubly miscast as (i) someone who might think he was a boxer and (ii) a passive character, feeding straight lines to a crew of madcap boxing types. One guesses, since this was an RKO short, that this was originally conceived for Edgar Kennedy, who would be believable as someone who thinks he could box, and who is also well-known for his "slow burn". The daffy routines are just stupid and the fact the audience knows all of the lunacy is a put up job undercuts any leftover humor.

Finally, and a bit surprisingly, this is really a cheap film -- filmed in a bunch of empty rooms. It may be the first boxing related movie that doesn't feature a boxing ring.

I'd miss this one. It's not fun to see a good actor put to such pedestrian use.

Walter thinks he can become a prize fighter?!

[planktonrules · 3/10 · 25 January 2022]

Walter Catlett was a fast-talking comedian who is WAY out of his league in "Uppercutlets". This is because he was anything but the athletic type...yet he's supposed to be a guy who wants to be a prize fighter! This is utterly ridiculous...as is what follows.

When the story begins, a wife begs a gym owner to help her dissuade Walter from becoming a boxer. To do this, she pays him an astounding $5000 (a HUGE sum back in 1936...enough to buy a couple houses and a person's salary for 3-5 years!). So, the owner fills the gym with all sorts of weirdos doing all sorts of weird things...all intended to convince Walter to pick another career.

The premise is silly and the many weird vignettes even sillier. But here is the problem...while silly, most of what you see simply isn't funny. As a result, it comes off as strained to say the least.

Among The Jokes Is That Walter Catlett Is 35

[boblipton · 6/10 · 30 December 2021]

Walter Catlett wants to be a prize fighter, so his wife bribes the gym's manager to make sure he doesn't. The way they prevent this is by having every talk and perform nonsense.

It's written and directed by Al Boasberg. Starting with a Broadway success that was film by Keaton as BATTLING BUTLER. Boasberg became a gag writer and eventually directed a few of the shorts he had written. While his nonsensical dialogue and physical gags were good, he couldn't get much of a performance out of the lesser actors here. He had just signed a contract to write for Jack Benny when he had a heart attacked and died at the age of 46.