The Villain Still Pursued Her

 

(1940)
Directed by Edward Cline
Written by Elbert Franklin, Ethel La Blanche
Starring Hugh Herbert, Anita Louise, Alan Mowbray, Buster Keaton, Richard Cromwell, Margaret Hamilton, Billy Gilbert
IMDB Entry

Sometimes bad acting can be fun. Plan 9 from Outer Space is a case in point. And withThe Villain Still Pursued Her, the bad acting is deliberate and very funny.

The movie is a broad parody of the idea of the old-time melodrama. It starts out with a stage proscenium, where the announcer (Billy Gilbert) comes on to introduce the play. Then we see Mary Wilson (Anita Louise) talking with her aunt (Margaret Hamilton) and laying out the situation: Edward Middleton (Richard Cromwell) has inherited the mortgage on their house from his kindly father and they are afraid he will foreclose. Cribbs (Alan Mowbray) comes by to tell them they will have to move. When Edward is on the way to the house, Cribbs intercepts him, pushing him to foreclose, but when he sees Mary, the two fall in love.

At their wedding, the scheming Cribbs inveigles Edward into trying alcohol for the first time. He immediately becomes a drunkard, and Cribbs tries to trick him into crime, which he refuses. Cribbs forges Edward's name on a check, but but Dalton (Buster Keaton), Edward's friend, exposes that crime. and others. With the help of Frederick Healy (Hugh Hubert), Edward becomes sober and all is well.

Everyone overacts. That's the point. Cribbs often addresses to audience to talk about his nefarious plans, while the others will soliloquize about their thoughts and feelings.

Mowbray is full-on Snidely Whiplash as Cribbs, moustache and all.  He was a busy character actor, appearing in movies and films for over 40 years. 

I was interested in the film because the many familiar faces. Buster Keaton was the big one, but he was given very little to do. Margaret Hamilton was Mary's kindly mother, a big departure from her role the year before in The Wizard of Oz. Billy Gilbert did a lot of comedy -- most notably as Mr. Pettibone in His Girl Friday -- and was the voice of Sneezy in the Disney Snow White. Hugh Hubert is forgotten today, but his ditzy character was very popular in the 30s, with his fluttery mannerisms and his catchphrase "hoo hoo hoo," which often was parodied in cartoons. I also spotted Vernon Dent, the Three Stooges' greatest straight man.

Director Edward Cline was responsible with several W.C. Fields features and also directed several of Keaton's short subjects.  

The joke does perhaps go on too long, and has one somewhat racist non-sequitur joke, but it does remain amusing as a send-up of  old-time stage melodramas.