"How to Be a Detective"

"How to Be a Detective" (short), 1936. An instructional film spoof.

Directed by Felix E. Feist. Written by Robert Benchley, Robert Lees, & Frederic I. Rinaldo. Starring Benchley.

Concept: C
Story: D
Characters: D
Dialog: D
Pacing: F
Cinematography: C
Special effects/design: C
Acting: D
Music: C
Enjoyment: In a ~10 minute film, there are four or five jokes (none of them funny), with the rest of the time being excruciatingly long set-up for the jokes. One of the best things about the invention of television is that it gave the assholes who thought this sort of thing was worthwhile to produce somewhere to dump it where it would be appropriately lost to time. D

GPA: 1.3/4