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7/10
Senior Film Conservator
A definitive 7/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Babes in the Goods remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
If you have twenty minutes to spare today and want to watch two women completely wreck a 1930s department store, then yes, Babes in the Goods is absolutely worth your time. 🧼
People who love classic physical comedy—the kind where a simple household prop becomes a weapon of mass destruction—will have a blast. But if you can't stand loud, shrieking panic or simple setups, you should probably skip this one.
I stumbled onto this short after watching Too Many Mammas last week. There is something so comforting about these old Hal Roach comedies, even when they are totally silly.
Thelma Todd and Patsy Kelly are demonstrating washing machines in a giant store window. Right from the start, you know things are going to go wrong because Patsy has this incredibly chaotic energy.
She doesn't just do her job; she actively fights the machinery. It is like she expects the washing machine to bite her.
They end up getting locked in the store overnight after the lights go out. It is a classic setup, almost like a precursor to those night-at-the-museum style shenanigans.
My favorite part is when they decide to make themselves "comfortable" using the display beds. Thelma is trying to be elegant, but Patsy is basically a human wrecking ball.
There is this one bit where Patsy tries to fluff a pillow and somehow manages to make it look like she is wrestling a live animal. It made me laugh out loud, honestly.
The store itself looks like a giant playground. I loved looking at the background details, like the weirdly shaped lamps and the massive, clunky washing machines that look like they could swallow a small child.
Though, the film does get a bit repetitive in the middle. They run around, they scream at shadows, and the store looks incredibly dark—like the crew only had one working flashlight.
Actually, the lighting is so bad in some shots you can barely see Patsy's facial expressions. That is a shame because her face is half the fun here.
It reminds me a bit of Caught in the Fog with how much the characters stumble around in the dark. Except here, there are no spooky villains, just their own clumsy selves.
There's also a gag with a radio that starts playing music out of nowhere, which scares the absolute daylights out of them. It is those little, unpolished moments that make these shorts so endearing.
Thelma Todd is great here, playing the "sane" one who is actually just as clueless. She has this wonderful way of looking annoyed without losing her movie-star charm.
The ending feels incredibly abrupt, though.
They just kind of get caught, and boom, the short ends. I guess they ran out of film or maybe they just got tired of throwing soap suds at each other.
Still, it is a lovely little slice of 1934. You can practically smell the laundry soap and the old floor wax through the screen.
IMDb 6.2
1925
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