Motor Maniacs

Edgar Kennedy's brother-in-law, Jack Rice, has done it again. He's bought a half-interest in an experimental outboard motor, financing it by selling half of his interest to his sister, Florence Rice; that means that Edgar is on the hook for a lot of money. Fortunately, an old beau of mother-in-law Dot Farley, Texas oilman Tom Kennedy (no relation) is coming to court the old battle-axe. Edgar sees a hope of getting his money back and getting rid of the two spongers. Unfortunately, things never turn out well for Mr. Kennedy in his long-running "Common Man" short comedy series for RKO.

Miss Rice gets more than her usual share of bird-brained malapropisms in this one, and it's always good to see Tom Kennedy playing one of his comic characters. Post-war budgets are clearly tightening; the motor's testing clearly involves a lot of process shots. It's not one of the best of the series, but it has a goodly number of roughneck laughs.