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Cult Review
Senior Film Conservator
If you have fifteen minutes to spare and a soft spot for weird, dusty 1930s shorts, Crashing the Gate is a fun little time machine. Music nerds and puppet fans will love it. People who need a plot that makes actual sense shoud probably stay far away. 🎥
It is basically a glorified vaudeville showcase. You get Ruth Etting singing, Roy Atwell doing his classic tongue-tied bit, and some truly bizarre marionettes by Tony Sarg.
The whole thing feels like it was filmed in a high school gym over a single weekend. The stage lighting is harsh and everyone seem slightly nervous about where they are supposed to stand.
I mostly watched this for Ruth Etting. Her voice has that lovely, warm scratchiness that only old Vitaphone shorts can deliver.
But then the puppets show up. Tony Sarg's marionettes are... well, they are kind of creepy but in a charming way. 💀
There is a moment where a puppet skeleton starts dancing and the camera just stares at it. It goes on way too long, like the cameraman fell asleep at the wheel.
It reminded me a bit of the random gag pacing in The High Sign, but way less polished. Just pure chaotic energy from start to finish.
Roy Atwell does his usual routine where he mixes up his words. It is funny for about two minutes, then you just want him to finish a single sentence.
The sound quality is pretty rough in the copy I found online. You can hear a constant hiss in the background like a radiator is leaking nearby.
Still, there is something so cozy about these relics. They do not make things this unapologetically random anymore.
If you have stumbled on this after watching other oddities like The Aero Nut, you will know exactly what kind of loose, low-budget vibe to expect.
Its not a masterpiece, but it is a neat little window into what made people laugh back when radio was king.