Dream Stuff

Walter Catlett is the cousin to some squeaky voiced Dagwood Bumstead type who can't get a girl. Can he browbeat his cousin into swiping pretty girl from accomplished gunman, boxer, and horseman Franklin Pangborn (!?), or is that just DREAM STUFF? Right before his studio crashed and burned with the coming of the double feature and the phasing out of the two-reel comedy, Mack Sennett finally seemed to figure out sound comedy, with a series of shorts starring Bing Crosby, and an awesome quartet of shorts featuring W.C. Fields. This one, featuring character actor Walter Catlett, is certainly not of the level of the Fields shorts, but holds up fairly well. Why? Because Catlett in this one is a force of nature as he manufactures plots well calculated to get his somewhat doofy cousin the girl (and guaranteed to fluster the doofy cousin). The gags here are mostly funny. Pangborn make a great foil. And Catlett is truly wonderful as a benevolent despot, who, despite his wise scheming, can't avoi