Very best movie i ever watch

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Let's be realistic.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

Director: HAL ROACH. Associate directors: Gordon Douglas, Hal Roach, junior. Screenplay: Arnold Belgard, Harry Langdon, Mickell Novack. Based on the novel by Eric Hatch. Photography: Norbert Brodine. Film editor: Bert Jordan. Art director: Charles D. Hall. Music: Georgie Stoll. Songs: Hoagy Carmichael (music), Stanley Adams (lyrics). Special effects: Roy Seawright. Producer: Hal Roach. Copyright 9 January 1941 by Hal Roach Studios, Inc. Released through United Artists. 87 minutes. SYNOPSIS: When he fails to go through with a wedding, a handsome, personable millionaire is confined in a lunatic asylum.COMMENT: As in the later Hi Diddle Diddle, the Menjou character is a bogus colonel type here (or is he?). Indeed this movie is almost as high-spirited as Diddle, though the players don't practice double takes, nor do they sling raspberries at the audience, nor do they draw attention to the casting of the director's girl friend. John Hubbard tries hard, but seems rather stiff compared to Dennis O'Keefe (who would have made a much better job of the role), but if he misses out on the scenes with the lunatics (his playing is both too pat and too flat), he does have some fun with the lions. Certainly the lovely Carole Landis seems prettier and much less formal than Martha Scott. Most of the laughs, however, are generated by Menjou, Kelly, Best and Butterworth, assisted by a goodly array of cameo turns from the likes of Shemp Howard, Jack Norton and Clarence Wilson. Admittedly, Butterworth disappears for most of the movie, but fortunately contrives to return for the grand climax. Most of the songs — pleasant enough, if rather ordinary — are supplied by The Charioteers. Roach's direction appears remarkably fluid at times. Road Show was presumably designed as just that: a smooth-as-silk prestige attraction. Photography is appealing and production values rate high.

I started watching this with a great deal of interest after seeing several "streamlined" Hal Roach comedies and a few of his "A" budget films that were precursors to much later hysterical farces such as "Airplane!" and "The Naked Gun". With the exception of a few (the "Topper" series, "Merrilly We Live", "Turnabout"), they are not great films, but they offer enough screwball antics to give one chest pains after laughing so much. This one had some major laughs throughout, but they were further apart than the films I just mentioned as well as such 45-50 minute "featurettes" such as "Miss Polly", "The Devil With Hitler" and "All-American". To say disappointment followed is an understatement considering a cast of some of my favorite comical character actors.The storyline is set up for farce. A millionaire (John Hubbard) with a gold digging fiancée whom he is prepared to jilt at the alter is put into a mental institution for a "rest" when he starts "baahing" like a sheep after running out of the church. This sets up promise for a funny film, but it sorely disappoints. At the mental institution, he meets wacky Adolph Menjou almost by accident and they escape, only to get involved in Carole Landis's traveling carnival. Patsy Kelly, a Hal Roach regular since 1933, is present, giving her usual hilarity as a carnival woman from Brooklyn (where else would a Patsy Kelly character be from?) who is posing as a Native American selling a cure-all tonic. An actual Native American falls head over heels for her, presenting her with a portrait of himself (a stick figure) with her (a portly and obviously pregnant Indian woman). That is probably the funniest segment of the film as a recurring gag which has a typical Hal Roach payoff.Throw in Charles Butterworth as Menjou's eccentric wealthy cousin who loves riding on firetrucks who ends up encountering the carnival while Menjou is on the run. Then there is the wonderful Florence Bates in a bit role as Hubbard's social climbing mother-in-law not-to-be. Sadly, she is wasted in only the opening segment. There are some genuinely funny farcial moments towards the end with a gang of ruffians who try and break up the carnival only to find themselves surrounded by the group of wackos who have some surprises up their sleeve. Willie Best, an able black comic of the 30's and 40's, is funny as one of the carnival workers who encounters a battle with the carnival lion Hubbard has been forced to "train".I wish I could give this a higher review. It has a lot of potential to be a lot funnier than it is. I saw this years ago and thought it was funnier back then, but after recent screenings of some of Roach's other comedies of the same era have to mark it as a disappointment.

The opening scene in "Road Show" is one of the funniest scenes I can recall from all the movies I've ever watched. This is another of those crazy comedies produced in Hollywood during the tough economic times of the decade plus before World War II. I remember watching some of these gems when TV first began running them as afternoon and late night movies. Some, I don't recall ever having seen, including this hilarious romp, until I bought it on DVD. Movies such as this don't really need much for a plot – they just need to present scenes for the players to do their zany antics and dialog. What's interesting about these old black and white films is that their humor isn't dated. Sure, some of the situations – in this case, a traveling carnival – are dated. But that can be a little educational for a modern audience, as well as it is entertaining. Although few people have rated this film as of the time of my review, most of the reviewers saw it for the zany and fun humor vehicle it is."Road Show" moves from one zany scene and incident to another. Adolphe Menjou was a master in delivery of off-hand wit in his comedies. But here, he also shows physical aptitude in some slapstick scenes as Col. Carroway. He and Drogo Gaines, played by John Hubbard, make a great comedy duo. Carole Landis plays just about the only straight part in the movie as Penguin Moore, owner of the carnival. Several other roles are hilarious and add to the fun.In a scene toward the end, Col. Carroway has upped the prices on the signs of the carnival booths. Penguin asks, "Don't you think you've raised the prices too much?" Carroway replies, "Too much? Why these people couldn't have a good time unless they paid too much." A few songs add to the enjoyment, with an appropriate tune, "Calliope Jane," sung by the Charioteers. Incidentally, this film was based on a novel of the same title by Eric Hatch. Hatch also wrote a novel and the screenplay based on it by the same name – "My Man Godfrey" (1936). He wrote more than 20 novels and worked for The New Yorker Magazine. I highly recommend this comical farce for movie fans who like zany humor and real laughter.

I really thought that it was impossible for a film starring Adolphe Menjou to be this bad. Menjou was capable of ably playing a variety of characters from villain to tarnished hero, and he was also very able at playing comedy. However, even the talented Menjou cannot save this film. The plot is that young wealthy playboy Drogo Gaines (John Hubbard) gets cold feet on his wedding day, and decides to pretend he is insane. His jilted bride retaliates by having him committed. In the asylum, Gaines meets Carleton Carroway (Adolphe Menjou), and together the two escape and join a traveling carnival. In time, and through a series of comic misadventures, Gaines falls for Penguin Moore (Carole Landis), the beautiful leader of the carnival.The problem is that besides Menjou, the players are just not that talented, and the jokes are just not that funny. Also, neither the overall plot nor the mismatched romance is very compelling. Cut down to 20 minutes or so, this might have been an OK 1940's comic short, but at 70 minutes it just seems to drag on forever. Hal Roach was capable of much funnier stuff. I would definitely pass on this one.