The Little Maestro

Starring: Jerry Bergen, Billy Gray, Adia Kuznetzoff
Directed by: Joseph Sherman
Rating: Approved
Genre: Short, Comedy, Drama
Length: 11 minutes
1937

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A homeless man (Jerry Bergen) carrying a violin is thought to be a world-famous musician by a chef. He is put on stage at a nightclub, but things don't go as planned.

Review:

Tim: I have to say, I was surprisingly bothered by The Little Maestro short. I just didn't have much fun watching it. Even though it's only 11 minutes long, I lost interest fairly quickly. This might not be terrible, but it's not very effective.

The story is simple- a homeless man carrying a violin case is trying to escape from a policeman out on patrol. He sneaks into a nightclub's kitchen, where the chef and other employee feed him while drinking to his health. They get drunk and somehow convince themselves that he's a world famous musician. I wasn't clear on exactly how this happened, but it was done so that hijinks could ensue. When the nightclub owner gets upset that they let a vagrant into his establishment, they defend the musician and put him on stage. Things don't go as planned, as he engages in more of a weird comedy act, as he's paired with other performers. Honestly, I didn't find any of it especially funny or entertaining. It was okay, but certainly not great.

Jerry Bergen was fine as "the little maestro". Bergen is a diminutive actor (under 5 feet tall), so little is to be taken literally. He was involved in vaudeville shows and some of that experience shows up here. He has a few moments where his comedy chops shine through. Unfortunately, I didn't love the other moments. I never felt any connection with his character- I never cared about him or rooted for him. That's a central flaw to this short- you have to care about the little maestro for it to work. I didn't, therefore the film is fairly ineffective. I'm not entirely sure why we were supposed to identify with him. It doesn't help that the rest of the cast are unlikeable, either. You have a stupid, drunk chef and a snotty nightclub owner. The whole cast needed to be rethought.

Now, the good thing about this short is that it's fairly short. You can't get too upset about something that lasts only 11 minutes. There's a few funny moments sprinkled in, but for the most part, this felt like one of the less effective shorts I've seen.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: N/A



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