Oom Pah Pah (1934) - A weirdly loud time with a tuba

If you have a headache right now, please do not watch this movie. 🎺

It is basically a ten-minute fever dream involving a brass band and a lot of visible sweating.

Is it actually good? I’m honestly not sure, but it sure is something.

Harry Bailey and John Foster are the leads here, and they basically just run around looking highly stressed about music.

If you like those old shorts where the plot is just 'stuff happens until the timer runs out,' you’ll probably dig this.

If you hate the sound of tubas being played badly, you should probably run away very fast.

The whole thing starts with the band trying to get through a song, but everything falls apart almost immediately.

I think I counted at least four times where someone almost gets a trombone slide to the back of the head.

There is this one guy in the background who looks like he has never seen a musical instrument before in his entire life.

He just stares at the tuba like it's a dangerous animal about to bite him.

It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in Cheap Skates, but with more spit valves and less grace.

The editing is... well, it’s a bit of a mess to be honest.

One reaction shot of Harry Bailey lingers for about five seconds too long, and it starts to feel like he’s staring into my soul.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Oom Pah Pah (1930) through its definitive frames.

I actually felt a little uncomfortable, like I was intruding on a private moment of tuba-related despair.

The physical comedy is very 'of its time,' which is a nice way of saying people fall down a lot for no reason.

It’s not quite as clever as what you’d see in My Wife's Relations, but it has a certain desperate charm to it.

There is a dog in one scene that looks completely baffled to be there.

I feel for that dog. I really do.

The music itself is actually kinda catchy if you’re into old-timey German polkas that sound like they were recorded inside a tin can.

I found myself humming the main tune while I was making toast later, which is a bad sign for my mental health.

The ending doesn't really wrap anything up; it just sort of stops when they run out of film.

It’s like the director just shrugged and went to lunch.

Usually, these things have a big finale, but this one just fades to black while a guy is still struggling with a drum.

It’s a weird little relic, and I’m glad it still exists, even if it made my ears ring for twenty minutes.

If you're looking for a deep story, you're in the wrong place. If you want to see a man get stuck in a brass instrument, you're home.

Didja notice?

• The tuba player’s mustache seems to be losing its grip on his face by the end.
• That one extra in the back who is definitely laughing when he’s supposed to be serious.
• The sound of the 'oom-pah' is occasionally out of sync with the actual blowing.
• The way the floor looks incredibly slippery for no apparent reason.
• There is a lot of dust on the lens in the final three minutes.

It’s an okay way to spend a few minutes if you're a film nerd. Just keep the volume at a reasonable level so your neighbors don't think a circus moved in next door. 🎪