Joe E. Brown Double Feature: Riding On Air / When's Your Birthday?

Two of the great Joe E. Brown's features for producer David Loew get showcased in this DVD package..."Riding on Air" (1937) is a pleasing Brown vehicle (the opening bit with Brown bathing in a bathroom filled with gadgetry is amusing). As a small town reporter, he gets himself--and eventually the whole town--taken to the cleaners by a flim-flam man. A rousing finale in an airplane closes the film as Brown must prove his innocence to the town & thwart the bad guys in a dogfight."When's Your Birthday?" (1937) is an offbeat & occasionally delightful farce about a banker's obsession with astrology; such that he refuses to have his wedding on a certain date because it's unfavorable in the stars. Upsetting his fiance & incurring the wrath of his future in-laws (the dad is played by "the king of the slow burn", Edgar Kennedy), a despondent Brown works as a busboy at a club. There, his gift for astrology catches the attention of some high-stakes gamblers who exploit his gift to win bets while giving Brown the success he's always craved. Some strange plot twists force Brown to compete in the boxing ring, which has some hilarious turns: Superstitious Brown tries to stall the fight until a full moon appears, which is in his favor! One gag has him "seeing" the full moon & turning into a tiger in the ring...until he realizes it's only a neon sign & he immediately falters!So why four stars instead of five? Unlike VCI's excellent presentation of "The Joe E. Brown Comedy Collection", Alpha Home Video didn't bother digitally cleaning up the prints. "Riding on Air", in particular, really could've used some TLC: It looks dark & scratchy, with noise on the soundtrack. Aside from this complaint, these are two fine Joe E. Brown vehicles!

Rare Joey Brown movie...so much fun.

Poor quality, hard to see and follow the action. Alot of external noise. Very dark. Not worth the price I paid for it.

Great! Joe E. Brown Dvd, I like his type of comedy, will probably order more later. Thanks!

We inserted the DVD and its blank. Very Dissapointed!

Poor sound quality with an ongoing whooshing static background sound

Funny movies! I love Joe E. Brown - glad I bought it!