The best Pete Smith’s comedy movies
If you love cinema, you will share this ranking of the best Pete Smith’s movies, although you may have ordered them differently. In any case, we hope you love it and with a little luck discovering a movie that you still don’t know about Pete Smith.
La Fiesta de Santa Barbara
5.9/10
Hollywood stars participate in a Mexican-themed revue and festival in Santa Barbara. Andy Devine, the "World's Greatest Matador", engages in a bullfight with a dubious bovine supplied by Señor Keaton, and musical numbers are provided by Joe Morrison and the Garland Sisters.
Movie Pests
6.6/10
This Pete Smith Specialty short takes a humorous look at the inconsiderate pests whose annoying habits make enjoying a movie impossible.
Penny Wisdom
6.1/10
A Pete Smith Specialty short on saving an important dinner after the household's cook suddenly quits.
The Great Morgan
5.2/10
Frank Morgan is hired to put together a movie using odds and ends from the MGM vaults. He does so by splicing together a string of completely unrelated short subjects and musical numbers, interspersed with a repeated loop of a scene from some melodrama. (Contains in their entirety the shorts, "Musical Masterpieces," "Our Old Car," and "Badminton," as well as clips from other projects)
Ice Aces
6.3/10
This Pete Smith Specialty short provides a behind-the-scenes look at the Ice Capades practices with ice skating favorites of the time.
Candid Cameramaniacs
5.9/10
Short comedic subject on the history of photography from the daguerrotype to modern amateur photographers.
Wrong Way Butch
6.3/10
This Pete Smith Specialty short was produced in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Labor. Using humor, it shows what can happen when tools and machinery are misused and safety warnings are ignored.
Strikes and Spares
6.2/10
This short features professional bowler Andy Varipapa. He first shows the correct way to grip a bowling ball and the proper form for delivering the ball down the alley. He then performs several trick shots.
Sure Cures
5.6/10
This comedic Pete Smith Specialty short examines the folly of using "home remedies" for various ills.
Fancy Answers
6.1/10
In this Pete Smith Speciality, the audience is asked a series of multiple-choice questions on various subjects.
Bowling Tricks
7.7/10
A demonstration of trick shots by champion bowler Andy Varipapa.
The Grand Bounce
6.1/10
A man writes a check for $1,000 to cover a gambling debt. The problem is that he doesn't have enough money in his bank account to cover it. The check was written on Friday afternoon, but cannot be cashed before the following Tuesday. The check is used to pay several debts until...
Groovie Movie
7/10
A boogie-woogie piano introduces what purports to be a jitterbug lesson, starring prize winner Arthur Walsh, his partner, and then later various other couples. We start with steps imported from other dances, like the waltz, then sped up. Next Walsh and his partner show some basic steps, but the movements are too swift for the narrator to describe them or the viewer to learn how to do them. By the end, various couples (all but a pair of briefly-seen children are white), including some comic ones, give a high-speed demonstration as the music rocks and swings. These are hep cats. Pete Smith's narration is full of slang.
Menu
6.2/10
A chef helps a housewife cook a duck dinner that will not give her husband indigestion.
Goofy Movies Number One
5.5/10
The first part of this short is a "Metrophony" newsreel. It contains actual newsreel footage with humorous commentary (e.g., a flotilla of gondolas is parodied as being the Harvard/Yale regatta). The second part parodies silent movies with a film called "Minnie the Pretzel Twister" starring 'Cynthia Goosefeather.'
Flicker Memories
5.4/10
In this Pete Smith Specialty short, clips from several unidentified silent films are woven into a story, with humorous commentary by Smith.
Friend Indeed
6.4/10
Pete Smith tells the story of 'Sparky', a German shepherd dog trained to lead his blind master, a country doctor who lost his sight in a fire, and now has to depend upon the dog to lead him in his daily rounds. 'Sparky" was the dog who was responsible for the Interstate Commerce Commission passing a special ruling allowing guide-dogs to travel first-class in Pullman cars to accompany their blind partner, and not as animals confined to the baggage car. Smith shows how 'Sparky' went to Washington D. C. with his master and helped sell the change to the legislators.
Seventh Column
6.3/10
This humorous short film shows how carelessness and accidents can harm the war effort, and steps on how to avoid them.
How to Hold Your Husband - BACK
5.8/10
In this Pete Smith Specialty comedic short, we see various ways a wife may unintentionally hold her husband back.
Hollywood Scout
5.7/10
This short film focuses on a day in the life of a Hollywood talent scout assigned to cast animals.
