Excuse My Dust - Red Skelton movie review | clown ministry

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Excuse My Dust (1951) starring Red Skelton, Sally Forest, MacDonald Carey, William Demarest

Excuse My Dust is a musical vehicle for Red Skelton, set in 1895, that deals with the issues of progress and the resistance to it. It stars Red Skelton as Joe Belden, a young inventor who’s determined to build a “horseless carriage”—this complicates things, since he’s in love with Liz Bullitt (Sally Forest), whose father (played by William Demarest, best remembered for his role of Uncle Charlie on My Three Sons) runs the local livery stable, and sees the “horseless carriage” as a threat to his livelihood. Joe Belden/Red Skelton has a rival for her affections in the obnoxious Cyrus Random, Jr. (MacDonald Carey), who undermines his efforts at every turn, going so far as to buy his own “horseless carriage” and compete with Joe in an upcoming race with a $5,000.00 prize that Joe wants to use to open a “gasmobile” factory and be financially able to start a family. Another fly in the ointment is Daisy Lou Shultzer (Monica Lewis), who has just returned from two weeks in Paris, and sets her eyes on Joe as well.

Red Skelton is as funny as usual, with several funny scenes (specifically when the local fire department tries to put out his barn fire, and the final car race.) However, there are also way too many musical numbers—at one point while watching the movie to review, I said out loud “Not another musical number!” In my humble opinion, a good musical has each number being a essential part of the story—without the number, the story can’t be told as well. Unfortunately, in Excuse My Dust, there are several numbers that could be cut entirely from the film, and their loss wouldn’t be noticed. The most notable example would be an extended dream sequence where Sally Forest dances in 1950’s fashion. This is a pity, since Red Skelton and musicals typically go well together, such as Three Little Words and DuBarry was a Lady.

It should be mentioned that the romantic undertone is actually the best part of the film, with Red/Joe alternately feuding with his girlfriend and making up, and William Demarest is a delight as the grumpy father. There's also an underlying story of Jazz music, with a wonderful musical number "Lorelei Brown" that was very enjoyable. I enjoyed watching Excuse My Dust, but I'll admit to using the fast-forward button on my remote on at least one musical number. I only rate it 2 clowns out of 5.

Musical numbers from Excuse My Dust

"I'd Like to Take You Out Dreaming"
"Lorelei Brown"
"Goin' Steady"
"Spring Has Sprung"
"Get a Horse"
"That's for Children"

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About the Author

Tom Raymond, aka. Raynbow the Clown, is a professional clown working out of Madison, Wisconsin, and is available for ministry events, conventions and conferences.

Posted by Tom Raymond, aka Raynbow on 09/08 at 02:31 PM
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