The Mild West

Since I've got a post up on the new TCM Star of the Month, I figured it would be a good thing to complement it with a post on one of the many shorts that's sitting on my DVR. This time, that short is The Mild West.

This one starts off in the Hollywood version of an Old West saloon, run by Lulu (Janet Reade). Lulu is also a singer, belting out a couple of numbers. Meanwhile, various western movie tropes, or at least tropes for saloons in western movies, show up, including a running joke about how you're not supposed to shoot the piano player. Eventually Lulu's rival Baby Doll (Olive Borden) enters, as does Gentleman Joe. Joe starts playing poker against the house, and wins enough to break the bank. Lulu tries to win the money back, but fails to the point that Joe gets the business, and Lulu. Joe can see the future, announcing that he's bought up all the land in anticipation of the days of automobiles and talking pictures.

Fast forward to the present day, or 1933 when the short was made. Lulu and Joe are obviously much older, and seem to be happy in their dotage. That is, until Baby Doll shows up. She went east and became some sort of success in New York. More than that, she looks like she hasn't aged a day, something she attributes to plastic surgery. She also claims she's going to win Joe from Lulu, which it seems she's spent her whole like thinking about. Sure enough, Joe runs off with her.

So Lulu follows him to New York with the intention to get beauty and plastic surgery treatments of her own to try to rival Baby Doll. And wouldn't you know, but the beauty place she goes to is staffed by the sort of women who break into a Busby Berkeley dance. Lulu gets the plastic surgery, and it works in more ways than one.

The Mild West is an odd little short. People who aren't fans of either 1930s music or movies. probably aren't going to care for this one. I'm not the biggest fan of the music of that era, and the songs are forgettable. But the plot and execution are just offbeat enough that there's something interesting about watching this one.