Search - City Limits on DVD

Matt B. from GETZVILLE, NY
Reviewed on 7/29/2011...

A railroad tycoon has won the world at the cost of a nervous stomach and irascible disposition. He’s pressurized by business rivals always looking for an angle to topple him. A spinster sister bores everybody with her own hypochondria, but she sics doctors and male nurses on the pill-hating tycoon too.

His doctor forces him to go on vacation. He falls out of his private railroad car and into the laps of Laurel & Hardy-like hoboes. In a funny misapprehension, they assume he is balmy when he claims to be a railroad magnate. They introduce themselves as Napoleon and The King of Siam. Nap is little and silly like Stanley, King is heavy and verbose like Oliver.

Since the downtrodden follow the code “Care for the afflicted,” they feed him and make sure he doesn’t get into trouble. His family works frantically to find him because the business rivals are making a move to acquire his railroad. An intrepid news hound, interested in the daughter of the family, soothes his testy editor while he goes on chases to find the tycoon. Fun suspense ensues

All in all, genial fun. The humor is low-key with a couple of enjoyable chase scenes. The writer passed on the cliché of romance of life on the road for homeless men during the Depression. It’s not Sullivan’s Travels but it meets the unpretentious goals it sets for itself.