Close Relations: A chaotic mess of inheritance and bad cousins

Should you watch Close Relations? If you have a soft spot for grainy, frantic 1930s comedy, maybe. If you hate characters who spend eighty percent of their screen time actively trying to ruin each other's lives, you are going to want to turn this off about ten minutes in.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Close Relations (1933) through its definitive frames.

It’s a simple setup. Wilbur Wart gets a letter, smells money, and rushes off. Then he meets Harry. Watching them try to out-scheme one another is like watching two toddlers fight over a toy that might not even be there.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Close Relations (1933) through its definitive frames.

The Shemp factor

Look, you’re here for Shemp Howard, aren't you? He’s doing his usual thing. Lots of arm-flailing and that high-pitched exasperation that makes you wonder if he ever actually sleeps. It’s not exactly high art, but it’s genuinely funny in a way that feels unscripted, even when you know it's not.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Close Relations (1933) through its definitive frames.

The pacing is all over the place. Sometimes it feels like they were just making it up as they went along. One minute they’re bickering in the road, the next they’re practically stepping on each other's toes at the uncle’s estate. It reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in Kid Boots, though maybe a little less polished.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Close Relations (1933) through its definitive frames.

Oddly specific observations

• The uncle’s house looks like it was decorated by someone who had never actually seen a house before.
• There’s a moment where Harry trips over his own feet that lasts about three seconds too long. It’s the best part of the movie.
• The dialogue is mostly people talking over each other, which I assume was the point, but it gets exhausting.

There's this weird tension where you keep waiting for the uncle to actually do something, but he mostly just sits there looking mysterious. It’s not quite as grim as Is There Justice?, but it definitely lacks the breezy charm of a really tight comedy.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Close Relations (1933) through its definitive frames.

Honestly, the whole inheritance plot is just an excuse for people to fall down and shout. If you go in expecting a clever satire on greed, you’re going to be disappointed. If you want to watch Shemp Howard lose his mind for an hour, you’re golden. 🤷‍♂️

It’s not a film that stays with you. I finished it, grabbed a coffee, and had already forgotten the ending by the time I sat back down. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though. Sometimes you just need a movie that doesn't ask you to think at all.