You like films that make you laugh so much that your stomach hurts? Then, this is your film. Red Skelton, on loan to Columbia from MGM, strikes gold. As the title suggests, he's a salesman selling brushes, but it is not all sugar and cream for him. His girlfriend Janet Blair's supposed male friend (Don McGuire) gives Skelton the opportunity to sell brushes, setting him up to fail so he can move in on Blair. Skelton and Blair get involved in murder with hysterical results.The movie is overabundant with hysterically funny gags straight out of vaudeville, and it is amazing how many of them work. The initial selling sequences are filled with gags straight out of the classic shorts that influenced the first wave of television sitcoms. Skelton hysterically deals with a rascally kid with a speech impediment, a temperamental actress out to vamp him (Adele Jergens), and finally, the gardeners of the man who had him fired from his job who ends up becoming the unfortunate murder victim. A hysterical sequence in Skelton's kitchen (straight out of the state room sequence from "A Night at the Opera") follows with a group of suspects and of course, a riotously funny finale in a warehouse.Like its even more outrageous follow-up, "The Fuller Brush Girl", the film was headway for a funny redhead to move into greater success on television.

All those wonderful years Red Skelton spent with MGM...lots of funny gags in many of their musicals. But, MGM didn't get comedy movies. They got humor in ,usicals, but they didn't get making movies that were out-and-out comedies. This, however -- when he was lent out to Columbia -- is one of his best comedies.The plot is simple -- can the goofy guy win the girl of his dreams (Janet Blair) by becoming a successful Fuller Brush Man...even if murder enters the picture.There's a succession of funny segments, first when Red gets fired as a street cleaner after setting fire to the city park and then smashing up the commissioner's car. Then there's an extended segment where he first tries being a brush salesmen and meets a different challenge at ever door...including a (if not the) Mean Widdle Kid. In fact, fans of the old Red Skelton television shows will recognize a numbers of lines and skits that became standards for Red. During the period, Buster Keaton was often off-camera in Skelton movies, and while I found no evidence of Keaton working on this film, you'll see his influence in some of the bits. There are some great sight gags in the "chase scene" at the end of the flick.This is very much Red's picture. Janet Blair does her job here, but it's nothing special. Hillary Brooke, quite active in Abbot & Costello films, does rather nicely here. And, Arthur Space is one of those character actors whose name you probably don't know, but he does nicely here at the police detective.If you like slapstick comedy, get this one for your DVD shelf. SONY has done a decent job here in terms of the transfer to DVD.

The opening scenes of "The Fuller Brush Man" are hardly promising: Red Skelton, playing a ne'er-do-well who can't hold a job, hopes to impress his lady-love with his skills as a door-to-door salesman, not knowing that he's been sent to the worst neighborhood in town by his adversary, his gal's other boyfriend. Seeing charming Skelton (with his happy chatter and lilting walk) being set-up as a chump is awfully sour, and the slapstick chaos which ensues isn't funny as a result. Thankfully, writer Frank Tashlin quickly gets off this baleful track, turning the proceedings instead into a comedic murder mystery, with Red one of the suspects in the killing of his former boss. The new plot thread--while neither original nor ingenious--does allow Skelton lots of funny business as an actor, with Janet Blair the perfect counterpart to Red's unintentional hero. The wild, free-for-all finale in a warehouse has staging and stunt-work as good as anything from the silent era, if not better. No wonder this was a box-office smash in 1948--it leaves the audience with a succession of happy highs. Followed two years later by "The Fuller Brush Girl". *** from ****

Wow, this movie wore me out. It was almost non-stop slapstick action....actually too much; it could have used some lulls. Still, there were tons of funny moments.Red Skeleton, in the starring role, provides most of the laughs with some corny-but-great lines and wonderful slapstick sight gags. Red, himself, must have been exhausted making this film.My favorite parts were in the beginning when he gives door-to-door selling a chance. His mentor and nemesis "Keenan" (Don McGuire), sets him up with the worst houses on the block and poor Red takes a verbal and physical beating, even from a little kid! It's actually painful to see such a nice guy, such an Innocent human being, get treated so poorly by everyone. He can't catch a break, including making points with his wannabe girlfriend "Ann" (Janet Blair). The break comes, of course, at the end and after a lot of chaos when Red inadvertently becomes involved in a murder and has to clear his name. You know Red, somehow, is going to pull through a ton of messy situations, even though it looks bad for him at least a hundred times!This film, and "The Fuller Brush Girl" with Lucille Ball and Eddie Albert, have never been put on DVDs and that's a shame. It would make a nice double-feature disc.By the way, when was the last time anyone saw a Fuller Brush man at their doorstep?