Dumb-Bell Letters No. 10: Proof that people have always been weird

Is this for you?

If you like movies that feel like a fever dream from a forgotten archive, you’ll dig this. If you need a plot that actually goes somewhere or characters you can root for, stay far away. It’s basically a PowerPoint presentation, but from an era where the slides were paper.

You’re basically watching someone read through a pile of mail. But not just any mail. These are the "dumb-bell" letters—the kind of stuff that makes you wonder how the sender even managed to find the mailbox.

There’s this one bit that felt like it dragged on forever. You can almost feel the editor debating whether to cut the silence, but they just let it sit there. It’s awkward, but in a way that’s actually kinda charming.

Why does this exist?

Juliet Jowell clearly had a hobby that bordered on obsession. She collected these letters like some people collect stamps or, I don't know, weird vintage silverware. It’s a very specific kind of entertainment.

Watching this reminded me a bit of the frantic energy in The Floor Below, though obviously in a completely different genre. It’s got that same sense of "what am I looking at right now?" that you get when you stumble across an old silent comedy.

The pacing is all over the place. Sometimes it feels like a race to the finish, and other times it just hangs out in the lobby. It doesn’t try to be profound. It doesn't even try to be a "film" in the way we usually mean that. It’s just... stuff.

I found myself laughing at the wrong moments. Or maybe the right ones? It’s hard to tell when the movie itself doesn't seem to care about the rules of comedy. 🤡

• The handwriting on some of these is genuinely impressive in how unreadable it is.
• The transitions are basically non-existent.
• I think I spotted a typo in one of the intertitles, which is just fitting.

It’s not gonna change your life. It’s not gonna win any awards for storytelling. But if you’ve ever had a job where you had to deal with the public, you’ll feel a deep, spiritual connection to the poor soul who had to read these. It’s funny, it’s short, and it’s gloriously pointless.

Sometimes the best movies are the ones that don't try to be anything at all. This is one of those. ✉️