Tramp Tramp Tramp: A chaotic mess of houseguests

Is this worth your time?

Honestly, unless you are deep into the weeds of 1930s short-form comedy, you can probably skip this one. It’s for the completionists who love Andy Clyde’s specific brand of frantic frustration. If you hate slapstick or people screaming at each other in small rooms, stay far away. 🏠

The premise is simple enough to be dangerous. Andy’s wife decides that their house is the local hub for every drifter on the block. It’s the kind of "comedy" logic that makes you want to reach through the screen and shake the characters.

Andy Clyde is doing his usual thing here. He’s got that hangdog expression down to a science. He spends half the runtime just squinting at people like they’ve personally offended his ancestors. It’s funny for a bit, but then it just stays at that same level of agitation for the whole ride.

The pacing is a bit weird. It jumps from one annoyance to another without much breathing room. It feels like the director was worried we’d get bored if someone wasn’t walking through the front door every thirty seconds.

There’s a moment where a group of these guys just sort of... take over the living room. It reminded me a little of the frantic energy in Hayseed Romance, though with way less charm. The extras playing the tramps look like they were pulled off the street five minutes before the cameras rolled. Some of them don't even seem to know where to stand.

Odd little details

• There’s a coat rack that gets bumped into at least four times. I started counting.
• The sound mixing is a bit wild. One guy’s voice is suddenly twice as loud as everyone else’s during a kitchen scene.
• Someone is wearing a hat that looks two sizes too small. It’s genuinely distracting.

The movie doesn't really have an ending, so much as it just stops. It’s like the budget ran out or the camera operator just got tired of the noise. 🤷‍♂️

It’s not as polished as something like Strikes and Spares, but it has that grainy, desperate energy that only these old shorts really captured. You can almost smell the stale coffee and dust in the room.

Is it a masterpiece? No. Is it worth 15 minutes of your afternoon if you’re bored? Maybe. Just don't expect it to change your life or anything.