Giggle Water (1937) Review - Edgar Kennedy's Slow Burn is Pure Gold

If you have about fifteen minutes to spare today and love watching a grown man slowly lose his mind, yes, Giggle Water is absolutely worth your time. People who love classic, loud 1930s slapstick will have a blast, but if high-pitched screeching voices give you a headache, you should probably run away now. 🏃‍♂️

The whole premise is beautifully stupid. Edgar (played by the master of the slow-burn, Edgar Kennedy) finds a single bottle of pre-prohibition champagne in his dusty attic.

Instead of just drinking it like normal people, his wife and mother-in-law decide this bottle is a sign. They must buy a luxury yacht just so they can smash the bottle on it for a christening. 🍾

The logic here is delightfully broken. It is like buying a mansion because you found a cool keychain in your pocket.

If you are expecting a serious cinematic masterpiece like Inspiration, you are definitely in the wrong place. This is pure, unadulterated chaos from the RKO shorts department.

What makes this work is Edgar Kennedy’s face. Nobody, and I mean nobody, could look as deeply disappointed in his family as this man.

There is a moment early on where he is trying to clean the bottle, and the sheer physical effort he puts into looking annoyed is art. He rubs his bald head in that classic way, and you can just feel his blood pressure rising. 😡

Then we get Florence Lake as his wife. Her voice is so high it could probably shatter the champagne bottle before they even buy the boat.

She has this incredibly specific, bird-like chirp that is both endearing and slightly torturous if you listen to it for too long.

And of course, the mother-in-law (Dot Farley) is there to make everything ten times worse. She is constantly pushing Edgar to spend money he does not have, which is a staple of these comedy shorts.

The middle of the film drags just a tiny bit when they actually go to look at boats. The salesman character is a bit of a blank slate, and the jokes there feel a bit recycled.

But the movie gets noticeably better once they get to the actual launch.

I won't spoil the climax, but let's just say water and heavy wooden structures do not mix well when Edgar is involved. The physical comedy at the end is beautifully clumsy.

You can almost see the stunt doubles in a couple of shots, which honestly just adds to the charm. It feels like a group of friends putting on a show in their backyard with a studio budget.

Here are a few random things I wrote down while watching:

• The attic dust looks suspiciously like flour. 🌾
• Edgar's face when he realizes how much a yacht costs is priceless.
• The dog in the background of one scene seems completely confused by the actors screaming.
• That bottle of champagne survives way more drops than a glass bottle should.

It is not a lost masterpiece, and it definitely won't change your life. But if you want a quick laugh and some classic physical comedy, it is a fun little time machine. ⚓