The same year as he directed the Marx Brothers classic Duck Soup, Leo McCarey also directed this so called comedy. Six of a Kind was a box office success and apparently recieved good reviews from the film critics at the time. Viewed today the film is a chore to sit through and the comedy situations don't strike me as particularly funny.
Well lets get on with the plot. Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland are going on a second honeymoon to California. In order to share expenses on the road trip, they team up with George Burns and Gracie Allen. Somehow they also end up with money stolen from a bank which brings the last couple into the mix, "The Duchess" played by Alison Skipworth and "Sheriff Honest John Hoxley" who is none other that the legendary W.C. Fields.
Well time for the comedy bits. Burns and Allen do their vaudeville act with Gracie Allen playing her usual idiot character to George Burns straight man. Charlie Ruggles and Mary Boland were kind of reliable 1930's comedians but the comedy situations they go through don't seem particularly funny especially one long sequence at The Grand Canyon.
Finally there is W.C. Fields as Sheriff Honest John Hoxley. You have to sit through almost the entire picture until he does his pool table shtick, a sketch he performed when he toured in vaudeville. The routine is only about five minutes long but it is funny.
The obvious lesson learned watching this film is that times have really changed when it comes to comedy.
The film was written by Keene Thompson, Douglas MacLean, Walter DeLeon and Harry Ruskin. A lot of writers for such a trifle of a film. The running time is 62 minutes but seems like 620 minutes.
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