Gentlemen of Polish: A 1930s Short That Just… Existed

So, Gentlemen of Polish. Is it worth tracking down in 2024? Probably only if you’re deep into early sound shorts or just really curious about what passed for laughs way back when. If you expect a tight plot or belly laughs, you’ll likely find it a bit… *quaint*. But for a peek at old vaudeville rhythms and some truly odd choices, it’s a curious watch for those with a patient eye. Everyone else, probably give this one a miss.

The whole setup is pretty straightforward: Al Shaw and Sam Lee, these two salesmen, hawking "Super Glosso Polish." It's supposed to make things shine, right? Well, it does a bit more than shine when it *burns a hole* right through a police officer’s car. 😳 You’d think a product recall might be in order, but no, these guys just leg it. And the chase, well, it’s exactly what you’d picture for a 1930s short, lots of running and silly faces. Not exactly high-stakes stuff.

They eventually duck into a nightclub, which is where the film really settles in. Or, rather, *stalls out*, depending on your patience. It becomes less about the runaways and more about the various acts on stage. You get a few musical numbers, some dancing. It feels very much like a camera just dropped into a variety show. There’s a singer, Shirley Ross, who has a really lovely voice. It's a nice moment, a genuine bit of talent there.

But then you have these… other acts. There's a particular dance routine with a lot of kicking and high energy, but the camera just sort of sits there, not really doing anything interesting with it. It’s like they just pointed the lens and hoped for the best. And the pacing, oh man, it just stretches. The silence between some of the bits feels super long, like the director forgot to yell "cut."

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Gentlemen of Polish (1934) through its definitive frames.

Walter Brennan pops up here, too, in a small part. He’s already got that distinct voice, even in this early role. You kinda blink and wonder if that was really him, because he’s not doing much, just part of the crowd. It’s a neat little bit of trivia, I guess, seeing familiar faces before they were *the* familiar faces.

The humor, when it tries to land, is very broad. Lots of mugging for the camera. Al Shaw and Sam Lee spend most of their time reacting to the stage acts, sometimes with wide-eyed wonder, sometimes with goofy grins. It's not exactly subtle stuff. You can almost *feel* the film trying to milk every last reaction shot it can get from them. One specific shot of Al Shaw watching a dancer, he just kinda stares, and it goes on just a little too long, making you wonder what they were going for. Was it supposed to be funny? Or just… observation?

Honestly, the "plot" about the polish and the cop car is almost forgotten once they hit the club. It's an excuse to string together some vaudeville numbers. And maybe that was the point back then, just to get some quick entertainment onto the screen. It's a snapshot, really. A very *lo-fi* snapshot of entertainment. The energy is there, sometimes, but it’s often lost in the way it's all put together.

Odd Little Bits I Noticed:

• The "Super Glosso" bottle itself looks very plain, not exactly like a miracle product.
• The cop's reaction to his car melting, it's pretty understated for such a disaster. He just kinda sighs.
• There’s a quick shot of the club audience, and a few people just look utterly bored. Like they were paid to be there. 😴
• The way the music cuts in and out sometimes, it's a bit jarring. Not smooth at all.

This isn't really a film with a beginning, middle, and end in the modern sense. It’s more like a series of interconnected skits, loosely held by a flimsy premise. If you’re into film history, or just want to see how much things have changed, it's worth a quick peek. But don’t expect it to blow your mind. It’s just… a thing that existed. And that's okay, I suppose. Some films are like that.