Pass the Gravy (1928) is the most stressful dinner ever caught on film

You should definitely watch this today if you have 25 minutes and want to see the most stressful dinner ever filmed.

If you hate old silent movies or get weirded out by jokes about pets being eaten, maybe skip it.

But for everyone else, this is a masterclass in awkwardness. 🐓

The whole thing starts with these two dads who live next door to each other and clearly hate each others guts.

Then their kids get engaged, which is already a disaster waiting to happen.

Max Davidson plays the one dad, and he is just... his expressions are everything.

He's got this drooping mustache and these eyes that look like they've seen way too much.

The plot is simple: the neighbor has a prize-winning rooster he loves more than his own family.

Max's son, Gene Morgan, thinks it would be a great idea to cook a nice chicken dinner to celebrate the engagement.

You can see where this is going about five minutes in, but the dread is the best part.

There is this one shot of the roosters identification tag appearing on the plate that made me actually gasp.

It's not like Felix Monkeys with Magic where things are just weird; this feels painfully real in a slapstick way.

The way the neighbor starts describing how much he loves his bird while he's literally chewing on it... yikes.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of Pass the Gravy (1928) through its definitive frames.

The pacing is a bit fast at the start and then it just stretches out that dinner scene until you want to scream.

Spec O'Donnell is in this too, playing the little brother.

That kid has the weirdest face in cinema history, I swear.

He just sits there looking like a tiny, judgmental old man while the chaos unfolds.

I noticed the background of the kitchen looks really dirty, like they didn't even try to clean the set for the actors.

It adds to the vibe though, makes it feel like a real house.

The ending is a bit abrupt, but that's how these Roach shorts usually go.

They don't really do resolutions, they just do people running away or falling over things.

I think I liked this more than All for a Husband just because the stakes feel so much higher.

I mean, it's just a bird, but it's his bird. The heartbreak is real! 🍗

The way they pass the plates around the table is like a dance, but a dance where everyone is about to step on a landmine.

Davidson does this thing with his hands where he's trying to hide the feathers that is just... gold.

Anyway, watch it for the dinner scene alone. It's legendary for a reason.