South Seasickness Review: Edgar Kennedy's Slow Burn at Sea

Skip this if you hate loud, screechy 1930s comedies where everyone yells. But if you want to see a guy lose his mind over a backyard boat, South Seasickness is a funny 20 minutes.

Edgar Kennedy is the king of the "slow burn." You know, that thing where he rubs his face in pure, quiet agony before exploding.

Here, he and his neighbor are building a boat in the backyard. Why? To escape their wives and mother-in-laws, obviously. 🚣‍♂️

The boat looks like a pile of scrap wood. Honestly, I don't think it would float in a bathtub, let alone the South Seas.

Florence Lake plays his wife, and her voice is like tin foil in a microwave. It’s magnificent but also hurts your ears after five minutes.

She did a similar bit in When the Cat's Away, but here she really dials up the screeching.

Her mother in the film is played by Dot Farley. She looks like she eats lemons for breakfast.

There is this one bit where Edgar tries to hammer a nail. He hits his thumb, of course.

The way he doesn't scream right away is the best part. He just stands there, staring at the hammer like it betrayed him. 🔨

It's much different than seeing him in a big movie like Scarface. In these shorts, he gets to be the main punching bag.

The neighbor, Adrian Rosley, is just as miserable. They have this weird, sad bromance born out of sheer domestic terror.

They both wear these goofy sailor hats that are way too small.

I noticed the background looks incredibly fake. Like, you can see the shadow of the boat casting onto the "sky" backdrop.

It adds to the charm, though. Nobody was trying to make art here; they just wanted to make people laugh on a Tuesday afternoon.

The writing by Arthur Ripley has some fast jokes. Some of them land, some just sort of sit there.

Like when they talk about the "marital strain." It feels very 1930s, where marriage is basically a prison sentence.

If you've seen The Very Idea, you know how these early sound comedies love to talk and talk.

Luckily, Edgar's physical stuff keeps it from getting too boring.

The Best Worst Moments

• The sound of the saw is incredibly loud in the audio mix. It literally drowned out a line of dialogue.
• Dot Farley's face when she looks at the boat. She looks like she wants to burn it down.
• The ending is kind of abrupt. It just... stops.

I don't think this is a masterpiece. But it made me chuckle twice, which is more than I can say for most modern sitcoms.

Watch it if you have twenty minutes to kill and like physical comedy. Avoid if high-pitched noises give you a migraine.