Review of Reducing

Reducing (1931)
8/10
fun old time black & white comedy
4 August 2008
Fun flick. Stuttering ticket-seller at the train station. Gotta love Marie Dressler - I think she was in almost EVERY black and white movie made before 1935, and she was great! Marie Truffle (Dressler) goes to visit cousin Polly (Polly Moran) in NYC to "help" her with her store. You can tell talkies had just started, since director Charles Reisner uses title cards here and there. Dressler would work with Reisner on seven different films in just three years. This one also has some slapstick comedy routines that could have been snitched from a three stooges show (in the beauty salon...) but the film has a quick pace and is fun to watch. It's a "country mouse goes to the big city" movie, and lots of bickering between Polly and Marie, but they forgive each other quickly every time. Dressler would make THIRTEEN films with Polly Moran, and three films with Roscoe Ates. Sadly, Marie would only make a couple more films after this one, including her most famous "Dinner at Eight" with all the big names in it. She died in her 60's in 1934.
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