Surprise (1930) is basically just people screaming and breaking stuff

If you have about fifteen minutes and want to see what happens when early sound films didn't know how to be quiet, Surprise is your movie. It is worth watching if you are into those weird, loud shorts from the start of the talkie era. If you hate shrill screaming and physical gags that don't always land, you will probably hate this one. It’s not deep, it’s just chaotic.

Mary Treen is the star here. She has this face that just screams "I am going to hit you with a broom" the second she walks on screen. The plot says she wants a "Roman Holiday." In 1930, apparently that meant throwing things and being a bit of a terror to everyone in the room.

The slapstick is relentless. It’s not the graceful, timed stuff you see with Buster Keaton. It’s more like "I’m going to yell a line and then fall over a chair." The sound quality is pretty rough too. 🔊

There is a guy named Rolfe Sedan in this. He has the most nervous energy I've seen in a while. He looks like he's worried the set is going to fall on him at any moment. Which, honestly, it might have, considering how much they were crashing around.

The audio has that heavy hiss that early talkies always have. Sometimes you can't even hear the jokes because the sound of a vase breaking is way too loud in the mix. It reminded me a bit of Don't from 1925, but with way more screaming since they finally had microphones. 🎤

I noticed a moment where a hat falls off and the actor almost breaks character to grab it. It's those little things that make these old shorts feel real to me. They didn't have the budget for a second take. If the vase broke, it stayed broke and they just kept filming.

The writing is by Herman Ruby. He usually did songs, so maybe that's why the movie has a weird rhythm. It feels like a musical where nobody actually sings and everyone just punches each other instead. It's a bit like Something Different in how it tries to be weird but ends up just being noisy.

Why it's a bit of a mess

• The acting is incredibly stiff until someone starts falling down.
• The jokes are mostly just "look, I'm angry now!"
• The ending feels like they just ran out of film and stopped.

Is it a "classic"? Probably not. But it’s a weirdly fun look at how people used to blow off steam before television. If you’re having a bad day, watching Mary Treen go "rough-and-ready" might make you feel better. Or it might just give you a headache. 🤕

I liked it more than The Whirlwind, mostly because it's shorter and doesn't pretend to be anything else. Sometimes shorter is better when people are screaming at the top of their lungs. The husband character in this is so bland he almost disappears into the wallpaper.

The set looks like it was put together in about twenty minutes. There is one table that looks so flimsy I'm surprised it didn't collapse before the actors even touched it. I think I saw a fly land on the camera lens for a second too. 🪰

If you want a real plot, go watch Children of Fate or something. This is just for people who want to see a 1930s kitchen get destroyed. It's a time capsule of a very specific kind of loud humor.

Anyway, it's worth a look if you find it on a dusty corner of the internet. Just don't expect it to change your life. It’s just a surprise of noise and broken plates.

Did anyone else notice how Tom Dugan looks like he wants to be anywhere else? His face in the background of the slapstick scenes is hilarious. He’s just waiting for his paycheck.

The whole thing feels like a rehearsal that they accidentally decided to release. It’s messy and imperfect. And that is probably why I didn't turn it off.