While the mesage of this movie is that a laugh gives the poor and wretched some kind of relief, this movie itself could not even produce a smile. It is boring, annoying, overacted and definitely not funny.

Delightful entertainment delivered with some powerful scenes and potent messages that hold to this day. One of the themes is homelessness and that hasn't changed since this movie was made except it got worse but it has always been a plague on man. By homeless, include materially poor, hungry, hopeless and wretched where man is shamed into submission. This was never meant to be. The current state of mankind is to be blamed on mankind for man still has not figured out how to cure this and more yet the answers are there and doable. Note: Homeless decades ago were mostly decent people down on their luck needing a break and some criminal element mixed in. Today it s more criminal element with some down & out-ters thrown in. Drug addicts, alcoholics and felons on the run often use a cloak of homeless to hide in while others cannot escape it for lack of resources and what we would call "a break". The systems that keep us in bondage are hard to break and this film gives us a close-up on it quite well. I like the presentation of the subject using comedy to visit with it and as you watch this movie, it actually goes where you would not expect and pulls you in even deeper into enjoyment. Light hearted but serious at the same time, we get the messages and then some. Enjoy your favorite stars giving us their trade and imagine what it must have been like to catch this in a local movie theater back in the day with another feature too. Include a date and some snack and this was a night out. I enjoyed some pork jerky, a drink and Joel Mcrea who is and was as easy as he is portrayed.

From a sociological standpoint it certainly loses in power and sharp dissection of North America's problems -which certainly had grown since 1932, to 'I Am a Fugitive From a Chain Gang'. Given, Warner Bros. has always been the studio of the 'working man' and does have more authority on the subject.Paramount seems to understand their precarious position to speak about poverty and what was in fact 'legal slavery' in the chain gang system, as the whole film could be read as a argumentation for the continued production of comedies while the whole world burned: "Laughing should not be underestimated, for some people it is all they have". They certainly were not alone in this disposition; Goebbels also made sure comedies kept being made in Nazi Germany to reassure the German public all was well with the Third Reich and the war. Note that I am not trying to compare Paramount to the Nazi media policy, just naming the best example that this argument was used in many countries at the time.The film still shows the major influence religion had on any kind of narrative form, as good deeds are highly rewarded (the charitable girl played by Veronica Lake, the shop owner who gives them free doughnuts and coffee) and those who do evil are severely, and immediately, punished ( the greedy homeless person who robs Sullivan ). Plus African Americans get -what must be rare at that time in the united States, a positive representation, yet only because they are religious; God apparently solved the racial issues (weird how they still seem to exist today, wonder when they came back?).So in all, Paramount could not help those unfortunate victims who suffered the indirect effects of the war, they could at least still make them laugh.

HERE WE HAVE yet another film which we have not reviewed up until now. Well, this time we cannot plea any sort of memory glitch. This time it is because, believe it or not, we hadn't seen it until yesterday, 11/28/14, on Turner Classic Movies.THE STORY STARTS out with a basic premise. Wealthy Hollywood Director, John Lloyd Sullivan (Joel McRea)sets out to truly see how the other half lives by masquerading as a vagrant. Wherever he goes, there is always he extensive support staff in traveling "studio"; being a deluxe camper. It appears that this hobo is a rich one.ALTHOUGH SO MUCH of the story is full of Writer/Director Preston Sturges' caustic humour and accompanying sought-gags, th story turns very dark at midway point. It happens that due to a mistaken identity, Director Sullivan is thought to have been killed. He winds up in a Southern prison chain-gang, at which point he appears to be at the real low point of his odyssey.IT IS DURING this stay behind bars that he has his true epiphany. A Congregation and Pastor of a Negro Church invites the prisoners and jailers of the Chain Gang to be their guests a the showing of Walt Disney MICKEY MOUSE & PLUTO Cartoon. The uninhibited laughter that permeates all in attendance proves to Sullivan that it is this merriment that is a universal cure to so many ills of the world. He decides that the next movie will be a comedy.BESIDE THE FINE writing and direction by Mr. Sturges, we are treated to the rarity of such a powerful and talented cast. Besides Joel McRea, we have names like: Veronica Lake, Robert Warwick, William Demarest, Franklin Pangborn, Porter Hall, Byron Foulger and Richard Webb.WE MUST CONFESS that our favourite gag involves the widow (Estelle Howard) who hires "vagrant" Sulivan to do chores around her house, all the while planning to 6turn him into her own, private "Boy Toy". This is explicit and very bold for 1941.IN CONCLUSION, IT appears that Mr. Sturges had a real concern for those less fortunate; but he makes no plea for any sort of socialistic remedies. His approach is more in line with the more personal, heart felt and Christian way.