The Cohens and the Kellys in Scotland: A lot of kilts and even more shouting

If you are looking for something deep to watch on a rainy Sunday, keep looking. This movie is mostly just two guys shouting at each other while wearing extremely itchy-looking wool outfits.

Is it worth watching today? Only if you are a completionist for early sound comedies or if you have a weirdly specific interest in how Americans used to stereotype Scottish people in the 1930s. Most people will probably find it a bit much after about twenty minutes.

The whole plot is basically a get-rich-quick scheme. Cohen and Kelly hear that a Prince is going to start wearing a specific plaid, so they rush to Scotland to buy it all up before the price goes up.

It’s a thin excuse for a movie. Really thin. Like, thinner than the soup they probably served on the set.

George Sidney and Charles Murray have this chemistry that feels like an old married couple who stopped liking each other in 1912. They yell. They nudge. They fall over things. A lot.

There is a scene where they are trying to figure out the Scottish customs that just goes on forever. You can tell they were just letting the cameras roll because film was still a bit of a novelty in the 'talkie' era.

I noticed that the sets look like they might blow over if someone sneezed too hard. It’s got that very specific early 1930s Universal Pictures look where everything is just a little bit too gray and flat. 🏰

One thing that really stuck out to me was the sound quality. Since it's from 1930, every time someone moves a chair, it sounds like a car crash. The dialogue is snappy, but you have to squint with your ears to hear it sometimes.

If you've seen New York Nights, you know how clunky these early sound films can feel. This one is no different.

Things I wrote down while watching:

• The mustache on Cohen is its own character at this point. It has more screen presence than some of the supporting cast.
• Why are they so obsessed with plaid? It feels like a fever dream.
• The Scottish accents are... well, they are certainly choices. I don't think anyone in Scotland has ever sounded like that.
• There is a bit with a bagpipe that is exactly as annoying as you think it’s gonna be.

There’s a strange energy to the whole thing. It’s not quite a silent movie anymore, but it hasn’t figured out how to be a 'real' movie yet. It’s stuck in this awkward middle ground where everyone talks at the same volume the whole time.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Cohens and the Kellys in Scotland (1930) through its definitive frames.

Vera Gordon and Kate Price play the wives, and honestly, they deserve medals for putting up with the lead actors. They mostly just stand in the background looking concerned or annoyed, which is exactly how I felt watching it. 🙄

I did find myself laughing at a bit involving a golf game. It was so stupidly simple that it worked. Sometimes you just need to see a guy get hit with a ball to feel something, I guess.

The movie is much shorter than modern films, which is its biggest strength. It gets in, does about fifty plaid jokes, and gets out. If it was any longer, it would be a hostage situation.

It reminds me a bit of the frantic energy in Lightnin' Strikes, though maybe a bit more grounded in 'ethnic' humor that hasn't aged particularly well. You have to take it with a grain of salt. Or a whole bucket of salt.

I wonder if people in 1930 actually thought this was a fashion tip? Like, did someone leave the theater and go buy a kilt? I hope so. That would be the only way this movie has a lasting legacy.

The pacing is weirdly fast but also feels like it’s dragging? I don’t know how to explain that. It’s like a treadmill that’s set to a high speed but you aren’t actually going anywhere.

One reaction shot of Cohen looking at a bill lingers for about five seconds too long. You can almost hear the director behind the camera whispering 'keep looking sad, George!' until the film runs out.

Anyway, it's a weird little piece of history. If you like seeing how comedy used to function before it got all 'smart' and 'subtle,' give it a look. Just don't expect it to change your life. It’s a movie about buying fabric. That's it. That's the tweet. 🧶

It's definitely better than some of the really dry stuff from that year, like The Climbers, mostly because it actually tries to be goofy. It fails often, but it tries.

Final thought: The hats. Why were hats so big in 1930? Every time someone enters a room, they have to deal with their hat for like three minutes. It’s fascinating and exhausting.