Rainy Days (1928) Review: A Beautiful, Sticky Mess

If you have ever been stuck inside with a bunch of kids while it is pouring outside, you know the vibe of this movie. It is pure chaos.

Is it worth watching today? Honestly, yeah, especially if you need a reminder that kids have been destroying houses since the beginning of time.

If you like fast-paced slapstick and watching people get covered in goop, you will have a good time. If you are a neat freak who hates seeing a perfectly good living room ruined, you might actually hate this movie.

It starts out quiet enough. Mom has to go out and leave Jay and Wheezer alone.

Wheezer is so tiny here. He has those big eyes that make you think he is innocent, but you can tell he is ready to cause trouble.

Then the rest of the gang shows up. It is like a swarm of locusts, but with more overalls.

The whole middle of the movie is just them trying to 'help' by redecorating. They decide the walls need new paper.

The way they handle the paste is just... gross. It is thick and white and gets all over their hair and faces.

There is this one shot of Farina trying to deal with a piece of sticky paper that just will not let go. It feels like it goes on for three minutes.

I found myself laughing at how bad they are at this. They are literally just slapping wet paper over everything, including the furniture.

At one point, the dog, Pal, gets involved. He has that classic ring around his eye that always looks painted on, but he is a better actor than half the kids.

He just looks at the camera sometimes like he knows this is a bad idea. Smart dog.

The pacing is a bit weird though. It starts slow, then it is 100 miles an hour, and then it kind of just stops.

I noticed that some of the gags feel a little mean. Like, they are really swinging those brushes at each other.

One of the kids gets a bucket of paste dumped right on his head. You can see him blinking through the white muck, and it looks like it actually stung his eyes a bit.

It is not like a modern movie where everything is safe and CGI. This was 1928; they just threw the paste and hoped for the best.

Speaking of 1928, the film quality is actually pretty decent for its age. It is not as visually experimental as something like The Gulf Between, but it gets the job done.

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

I kept thinking about how much laundry the moms of these actors had to do after filming. The clothes are ruined.

There is a scene where they start painting the floor too. Because why not?

They use black paint on a light floor. It is the kind of thing that makes you want to jump into the screen and stop them.

Joe Cobb is there too, being his usual loud self. He has this energy that just fills up the room, even in a silent movie.

The movie doesn't really have a 'message.' It is just about how bored kids are dangerous.

Sometimes the silence makes the jokes funnier. You just hear the imaginary sound of the paste squelching.

I did find myself wondering what happened to the kid who plays the 'friend' who keeps getting hit. He is a real trooper.

The ending is exactly what you expect. Mom comes home.

Her face is a mix of horror and just being tired. I felt that.

It is much more relatable than some grand drama like Annie Laurie. It is just a house that is now a landfill.

I liked it more than I thought I would. It is short, so it doesn't overstay its welcome.

Some of the 'Our Gang' shorts can be a bit slow, but this one keeps moving. Even if it is just moving toward more mess.

It is funny how we still have the same problems today. Give a kid some flour and water and they will destroy your life in twenty minutes.

The kids don't even look like they are acting half the time. They just look like they were told 'hey, go crazy with this glue.'

That is the best part of these old shorts. The authenticity of the destruction.

If you have twenty minutes to kill, give it a watch. It is better than most of the stuff on TV right now anyway.

Just don't let your own kids watch it. They might get ideas about the wallpaper.