The Iceman's Ball Review: A Loud, Weird Short from 1932

You should probably watch this if you have a soft spot for the kind of chaotic comedy that died out once movies got 'respectable.' If you like logic or people talking at a normal volume, you will absolutely hate it. The Iceman's Ball is basically twenty minutes of noise and painted-on glasses.

Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough are the stars here. They were big in Vaudeville, and you can really tell because they never stop moving. Bobby Clark is the one with the cigar and the glasses that are literally just circles of black paint on his face. It’s disturbing if you look at it for too long.

The whole thing starts with them getting arrested for disturbing the peace. This makes sense because they are incredibly loud. Then they steal the police car they were being held in, which seems way too easy to do in 1932. 🚓

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Iceman's Ball (1932) through its definitive frames.

There is a weird moment where they drive the car back to the station. Instead of being thrown in a deeper hole, the new commissioner thinks they are the real cops. The commissioner is played by a guy who looks like he’s never seen a human being before. He just hands them badges and tells them to go to work.

One of my favorite things about these old RKO shorts is how thin the sets look. When they are in the police station, you can almost see the walls wobbling. It adds a nice, cheap charm to the whole mess.

James Finlayson shows up, too. He’s the guy from the Laurel and Hardy movies with the amazing squinty eyes. He does his trademark 'double take' when he sees the duo, and it’s honestly the best part of the movie. 🤨

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Iceman's Ball (1932) through its definitive frames.

Once they are 'on the beat,' the movie gets a bit weird. They don't actually do any police work. They mostly just follow women around and try to flirt with them in a way that would get you pepper-sprayed today.

It’s interesting to see Walter Brennan in this. He’s super young and doesn't have his 'old man' voice yet. He’s just a guy in the background, but it’s a fun 'hey, I know him' moment. Most people only know him from his later westerns.

The pacing is totally off. It feels like they had ten minutes of jokes and had to stretch it to twenty. Some of the gags go on way too long, like the bit with the car horn. It starts funny, gets annoying, and then gets funny again just because of how long it lasts.

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Iceman's Ball (1932) through its definitive frames.

If you’ve seen The Shipwreck, you know what to expect from these two. They have this specific rhythm where Bobby Clark talks a mile a minute and McCullough just laughs at everything he says. McCullough doesn't really do much else, which is a bit of a mystery to me.

I noticed that the sound quality is pretty rough in the outdoor scenes. You can hear the wind hitting the microphone. It makes the whole thing feel like it was filmed on a dare over a weekend.

There is a scene where they are chasing a criminal, or maybe they are just running, I wasn't quite sure. The camera just stays still while they run back and forth. It’s very stagey. 🏃‍♂️

Cinematic perspective: Exploring the visual vocabulary of The Iceman's Ball (1932) through its definitive frames.

The ending is just... abrupt. It doesn't really resolve anything. They just get into more trouble and the movie stops. It feels like they ran out of film and just decided to go home.

It’s not as polished as something like Gall of the Wild. It feels much more raw and disorganized. But that’s kind of why I liked it. It feels like watching a live performance that is slowly falling apart.

One thing that really stuck out was the way Bobby Clark handles his cigar. He flips it around his mouth without using his hands. It’s a genuine skill. I spent about three minutes just watching his mouth instead of listening to the jokes.

Is it a 'good' movie? Not really. It’s a mess. But it’s a fast-paced mess that doesn't ask much of you. Watch it if you're bored and want to see what people thought was hilarious ninety years ago.

Also, the police car they use looks like it’s made of tin foil. When they hit things, it doesn't dent, it just sort of vibrates. It’s those little details that make these old shorts better than the over-produced stuff we get now. It feels human.