This short comedy feature is very good for its time, and despite some signs of age it is still funny to watch. It was one of the earliest non-experimental all-sound movies, having been made within a few months of the more famous "The Jazz Singer". Aside from the sound quality showing some of the problems common to the movies of the era, it holds up quite well. Robert Benchley's writing works in any era, and he handles the early sound movie format noticeably better than most performers of the time did.
The setup has Benchley as an assistant treasurer, giving his club's financial report for the year. It goes on to combine some wry humor in the text of the report with lots of other bits that revolve around the speaker's increasing nervousness over his task. Benchley continued to develop his usage of the lecturer format in his short comedies over the years, and his best features seamlessly combined his writing style and his on-screen approach. Even here, he already uses the format effectively, and the timing and pacing are much better than usual for a movie of its time.
As with Benchley's writing, in this feature he does not try for any huge laughs, but instead aims for a running flow of dry wit, which gradually increases the comic effect when it works. This is pretty good for a 1928 sound feature, since it has material and a lead performer that both make effective usage of the then-new capacity for sound in motion pictures.
The setup has Benchley as an assistant treasurer, giving his club's financial report for the year. It goes on to combine some wry humor in the text of the report with lots of other bits that revolve around the speaker's increasing nervousness over his task. Benchley continued to develop his usage of the lecturer format in his short comedies over the years, and his best features seamlessly combined his writing style and his on-screen approach. Even here, he already uses the format effectively, and the timing and pacing are much better than usual for a movie of its time.
As with Benchley's writing, in this feature he does not try for any huge laughs, but instead aims for a running flow of dry wit, which gradually increases the comic effect when it works. This is pretty good for a 1928 sound feature, since it has material and a lead performer that both make effective usage of the then-new capacity for sound in motion pictures.