A Put Up Job: Slapstick with Hammers

If you have a soft spot for silent-era slapstick and don't mind a little bit of repetitive frustration, A Put Up Job is worth your lunch break. Fans of old-school physical comedy will get a kick out of the duo's incompetence, but if you need a coherent plot to stay awake, stay far away.

Karl Dane and George K. Arthur were a classic odd couple. One is a giant, the other is tiny, and watching them try to hammer a nail straight is like watching a car wreck in slow motion. 🏠

The whole premise is just a setup for things to fall apart. Literally. Walls collapse, planks hit people in the face, and the construction site turns into a playground of bad engineering. It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in Helping Grandma, where the chaos just keeps escalating until someone runs out of frame.

There’s a specific bit where a door frame keeps tipping over that felt like it went on for three minutes too long. You can see the actors trying not to laugh, which is honestly the highlight of the whole short.

The editing is... well, it's there. It jumps around a lot, almost like the film reel was cut by someone who was also trying to build a house at the same time.

Bits and bobs:

• Marjorie Beebe is the only one who seems to know what's going on.
• The dust in the workshop looked like a nightmare for the crew's lungs.
• I’m pretty sure George K. Arthur almost broke his foot on a piece of plywood.
• There is a moment where a saw makes a sound that I swear is just a guy off-camera yelling, but maybe I’m crazy.

It’s not a masterpiece, and it certainly doesn't have the grit of something like In for Life, but it’s a perfectly fine way to kill ten minutes. Don't go looking for deep meaning here. Just watch the guys break stuff and move on with your life. 🛠️

It’s goofy. It’s loud in spirit. And it’s gone before you can get bored. Sometimes that's exactly what a movie needs to be.