Pluskylang Great Film overall

Sexyloutak Absolutely the worst movie.

ChicDragon It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

Jemima It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

JohnHowardReid Producer: Richard Goldstone. Copyright 15 February 1950 (in notice: 1949) by Loew's Inc. An MGM picture. New York release at the Capitol: 25 March 1950. U.S. release: 7 April 1950. U.K. release: 12 June 1950. Australian release: 18 August 1950. Sydney release at the St James and Minerva (on a double bill with Devil's Doorway): 18 August 1950. U.S. running time: 85 minutes. U.K. length: 7,572 feet (84 minutes). Australian length: 7,380 feet (exactly 82 minutes).SYNOPSIS: Accident-prone inventor plays havoc with the Yellow Cab Company.COMMENT: An excellent Red Skelton comedy. The supporting cast is especially strong, and there is a marvelous performance by Walter Slezak. The gags are very good and the film has a bizarre undertone, assisted by Stradling's superb photography, that is not unattractive. The climax in the Ideal Home Exhibition is realized with considerable verve by director Donohue and has audiences literally rolling the aisle. This is one of the best films Skelton ever made, and even if you don't like Skelton's earnestly bumbling brand of humor, you will enjoy this vehicle.MY SECOND OPINION: People who've worked with him all agree that Skelton was actually a much funnier comedian "off the cuff". When amusing cast and crew, he was allegedly a riot of innovation, but as soon as the camera turned, he froze into the less funny, predetermined routines and dialogue laid down by the script.Despite its great cast (particularly Walter Slezak and Edward Arnold), excellent sets and production values (including Harry Stradling's atmospheric photography), "The Yellow Cab Man" ON A SECOND VIEWING is only mildly and intermittently amusing. On the one hand, the characters are too superficial to excite much interest; on the other, Miss De Haven is too attractive a heroine for a schlemiel like "Red" Pirdy.Donahue's direction too is also not without fault. On a second view, I had the impression it was too clumsy, too maladroit, too mistimed to extract the most comic juice from the script's kernels of opportunity.

MartinHafer Red Skelton plays a guy, oddly enough, named Red. Red is an accident- prone man and because he's often involved in accidents, he's worked on inventing some things to save lives. Most of them are pretty lame, but his unbreakable glass will easily earn him a fortune. Unfortunately a corrupt lawyer (am I being repetitive?) has decided to steal it--but the formula is locked in Red's mind. So, he comes up with a complicated plan to have him meet a phony psychiatrist who will try to pump Red for information. Along the way, Red falls for a pretty lady (Gloria DeHaven)--but soon the psychiatrist convinces Red that he has a death wish--and is a danger to people he loves. It may not sound all that funny, but the film abounds with wonderful pratfalls, stunts and cute scenes. The bottom line is that Skelton once again plays an extremely likable guy--and that makes all the silliness work. It reminds me of a Ritz Brothers film I just saw--you never liked them, so their antics were tiresome. But, with Skelton, you cannot help but root for him and are willing to put up with some extreme silliness. Well worth seeing and good for a few laughs.

edwagreen Inventor Red Skelton, prone to accidents, creates a riot in this 1950 film. Gloria DeHaven, as his girl, is along for the ride.Walter Slezak, Jay C. Flippen and Edward Arnold are at their evil best. The last scene is similar to a Marks Brothers or 3 Stooges like films.I loved the part with the ambulance chasers and the attorneys. Was this ever so true to life!The film has familiar themes of slapstick comedy, accidents beyond belief, and a little brat of a child who causes mayhem with the police and traffic departments.The zany Red Skelton was wonderful at this type of film. The only thing is that you're familiar with these things and can easily predict what's coming next.

Robert J. Maxwell Red Skelton is a cab driver who is accident prone. He has a girl friend of sorts, Gloria DeHaven, and some buddies at the Yellow Cab Company in Los Angeles, including James Gleason. A cabal of bad guys -- Edward Arnold, Walter Slezak, and assorted hoods with names like "Gimpy" -- find out that Skelton has invented an invaluable substance, elastic glass, for use in automobile windows. The villains first con Red, then drug him, then chase him through a vast display of "modern homes" and appliances.I laughed all the way through this when I was a kid, cheering and clapping along with the others. It strikes me as silly at times, now that I'm older and have much more sophisticated tastes. (Now I find Lady Gaga funny.) However, there's no argument about it's being a successful farce. The climax has a whirling carousel of a modern house going berserk -- before "Strangers on a Train" -- throwing bad guys this way and that. Slezak plays an evil doctor who tries to hide his hypodermic syringe full of truth serum in a toaster. The toaster tips over and ejects its contents point first, hitting Slezak in the buns. If you don't find that amusing, you should not watch this.Red is his usual gibbering self. DeHaven is pouty and pretty. We don't usually associate Edward Arnold with comedy and, in fact, he plays his familiar evil self here, only slightly over the top, gruff, blustering, phonily affable. Slezak is quite good. He was in a number of comic roles and was almost always effective in them.