Runtime: 69 minutes
Directed by: Ray Enright
Starring: Joe E. Brown, June Travis, Guy Kibbee, Dick Foran, Carol Hughes
From: Warner Bros.
Yes, I watched this because it was called EARTHWORM TRACTORS. If you are as puzzled by the title as I was at first, it’s supposed to be a joking reference to Caterpillar tractors, before that company made all sorts of construction equipment. This stars Joe E. Brown; for those that only know him as the old horndog in Some Like It Hot, you’ll likely be stunned to see him in the 1930’s. A few years ago I saw his 6 Day Bike Rider, which was slight yet amusing; it’s just a presumption but as that movie had him say phrases like “good sassafras!” and “Oh, tiddlywinks!”, his character had to have been a dork even by 1934 standards.
In this movie, he’s still a dork! In this case, Joe E. is “a natural born salesman”-which is repeated often-but that is rather overblown. Brown knows little about tractors but due to prodding by his girl Sally, he becomes a salesman for the Earthworm Tractor Company. Various hijinks and ballyhoo happen which involve slapstick, Joe E. bumbling around and various items getting destroyed by a tractor large enough to pull a house. To be specific, Joe gets to know a young lady who has a hard of hearing father that owns a lumberyard yet is against machinery in general (yes, he’s a Luddite!); that goes about how you’d expect it to.
In this quick movie that was only 69 minutes long (nice) it was definitely silly & dopey yet still provided me enough laughs where I can say this was fine. The contributions of Guy Kibbee-as the father-definitely was an asset. There’s also the aspect of a few scenes being filmed at the actual Caterpillar factory in East Peoria, Illinois. If only the characters in the film knew how to pronounce “Illinois”… damn Californians.
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