Gem Jams (1943)
*** (out of 4)
Salesman Leon Errol (played by Leon Errol of course) has been late coming home from work four days in a row and his suspicious wife (Dorothy Christy) has had enough. When he calls home on the fifth night she decides to follow him to a hotel where he's meeting a beautiful woman (Dorothy Granger) for business. This RKO short is very predictable but there were many scenes that had me cracking up and the 18-minute running time really flew by to the point where I wish the movie had kept on going. The entire set-up is a simple one but Errol does a wonderful job with his role and really delivers many laughs. He's just right for the small husband who is constantly being pushed around and getting blamed for stuff that isn't his fault. Errol was born to play this type of role and he does a great job with it especially in the early scenes where he's trying to avoid the wife. Both Christy and Granger add some charm to the picture as does William Gould in the role of the hard boss. Director Hillyer would follow this up with the BATMAN serial and screenwriter Jean Yarbrough would go onto make countless "B" movies including a string of Abbott and Costello pictures. Fans of Errol or light comedy would do themselves a favor by checking this one out.