Main Cast: Jack Carson, Lola Albright, Jean Wallace, George Reeves, Gerald Perreau-Saissine
Release Year: 1950
Country: US
Run Time: 79 minutes
Plot
In the tradition of Red Skelton's The Fuller Brush Man and The Yellow Cab Man comes The Good Humor Man, with Jack Carson subbing for Skelton this time out. Carson plays Biff Jones, who when not peddling Good Humor ice cream carries on a romance with perky Margie Bellew (Lola Albright). Through a series of incredible circumstances, poor Biff is set up for a fall guy by a gang of holdup men. Ingredients essential to the action is a juvenile "Captain Marvel Fan Club," a dead woman who isn't dead, an above-suspicion business executive who turns out to be a criminal mastermind, and a room full of very versatile musical instruments. If the sight gags have a slightly cartoonish feel to them, it's because they were cooked up by Frank Tashlin, a graduate of the Warner Bros. animation factory. The best is reserved for the end, wherein hero, heroine, villain, henchmen, cops and kids all converge in a high-school auditorium for an uninhibited orgy of slapstick. Comic book fans will get a kick out of seeing George "Superman" Reeves come to grief at the hands of a bunch of "Captain Marvel" devotees! ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Review
While not really a classic, The Good Humor Man is a surprisingly engaging little slapstick flick. It doesn't have that extra dimension of humanity observed that give extra sparkle and depth to the best works of slapstick comedians such as Charlie Chaplin, but as an innocent, enjoyable little paean to the joys of unpretentious physical humor, Good Humor is hard to resist. Yes, the screenplay is silly and contrived -- but it KNOWS that it's silly and contrived. Writer Frank Tashlin is only interested in using the plot as a springboard for some outrageous gags. Not all of them work, but all of them were worth trying, and the ones that do work land with a bang. Credit must also go to director Lloyd Bacon, who knows how to set up the pieces unobtrusively for especially good effect. And special credit also goes to Jack Carson, a character actor who at times can be quite annoying but who is both appealing and charming here. His timing is excellent, he has a dangerous double take and he knows how to play the "grown-up innocent" to a "t." Throw in a good supporting cast, including an especially good George Reeves, and the result is a film that's just a lot of fun. ~ Craig Butler, All Movie Guide
Walter Holscher - Art Director, Lloyd Bacon - Director, Jerome Thomas - Editor, Heinz Roemheld - Composer (Music Score), Morris W. Stoloff - Musical Direction/Supervision, Lester White - Cinematographer, S. Sylvan Simon - Producer, George Cooper - Sound/Sound Designer, Frank Tashlin - Screenwriter, Roy Huggins - Short Story Author
