Overrated and overhyped

best movie i've ever seen.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

I generally find Red Skelton films entertaining, so I poured a glass of wine and tee'd up "I Dood It" on a quiet Sunday afternoon.Red Skelton was his usual great. I understand that Buster Keaton was his coach for some of the slapstick, and it showed. But one genius plus one genius equals some great comedy, so that was okay with me.However, I was really blown away by three performers I didn't know very well. Eleanor Powell was a fine actress and a fantastic dancer. Check out her lasso dance near the beginning of the film. Absolutely amazing! And then later in the film comes Hazel Scott, a phenomenal jazz pianist who I'd never heard before. Then shortly thereafter we have Lena Horne in her powerful "Jericho" number. Those scenes alone make the movie worth spending a little time on.There were a lot of musical numbers, too many in fact, and I have to admit I fast forwarded through the more tedious of them. And the plot was -- as many people have mentioned -- disjointed and illogical. But there's enough gold in this film to make it an enjoyable, although certainly not classic, movie event.

When I saw that Vincente Minnelli was the director here, I thought, well Skelton at least got a little more support here with Eleanor Powell and a lot of staging. While there is a story, it not only was done before, but the film still does not make a comfortable fit for Red. Skelton would not hit his stride until television.This is a war time production, obvious from the themes. Amazing to me is the unlisted cameos. For example, Butterfly McQueen is in this one, along with a fairly large group of unaccredited folks. Butterfly walks a poodle near Skelton when he is sitting defeated in a park.The plot has Skelton chasing a show girl, as a pants presser chasing her by going to every one of her live shows. Meanwhile, a member of the cast of the show is planning to blow up the theater. The plot is not as important as the music and dancing it turns out with Red doing some comic relief.You gotta love Powell and Lena Horne who are great. This is Vincente Minnelli working with a mixed race cast before the war is over. This same year he is directing an all black cast in "Cabin In The Sky" and it appears he literally borrows some of the cast from that picture to make cameos lat in this picture.As a fan of Red, am glad I finally caught this one. So far, the scripts for Red in his films are lacking and this one is not an exception. At least here, he got an A-List Director and cast along with Jimmy Dorseys Orchestra.

In Vincente Minnelli's third film MGM gave him the disparate talents of Eleanor Powell and Red Skelton to work with. The result was I Dood It and while Powell's career was only a few more films, Red's got going into high gear after this went into release.Powell is a Broadway star and Red is a love struck fan who has seen 65 performances of her in some Civil War drama from the same seat. Of course the players have noticed him and he's always a well dressed man about town. But that's because he has the pick of suits to wear as he works for Sam Levene as a hotel valet and he borrows his customer's clothing for a night out. I won't say more but Red was treading into Bob Hope territory here as the schnook who always wound up with the girl. In this case a glamorous dancing star like Eleanor Powell. There's hope for all of us and a lot of Hope for Red as well in this film. Coming for specialty numbers are jazz pianist Hazel Scott and the great Lena Horne. Not to mention Jimmy Dorsey's Orchestra with singers Helen O'Connell and Bob Eberly who were at the height of their popularity when I Dood It came out. Thurston Hall plays Powell's producer, Richard Ainley her insufferable leading man and John Hodiak in one of his earliest films was a Nazi spy and saboteur. Well this was 1943 and film audiences were reminded those Nazis were everywhere.Red's fans and Eleanor's fans will get their money's worth with I Dood It.

If you adore Red Skelton... If you adore Eleanor Powell... If you adore Swing music and ballads... If you enjoy just kicking back and letting the experience take hold...,This is a terrific movie to enjoy with a bowl of popcorn. It's especially good when it's on TCM because there are no nasty cuts or commercials.It's fluff, make no mistake. No Tarantino gore, no Stone conspiracies, no angst... just pure fun watching some of the best talent Hollywood ever had.Lena Horne, Hazel Scott, Jimmy Dorsey, Bob Eberly, Helen O'Connell for the music. Eleanor Powell's magnificent dancing, Red Skelton's brilliant slapstick and his heart-felt sweetness. Then there's the rest of the cast - Thurston Hall, Sam Levene, John Hodiak, and Richard Ainley as Larry West, for whom this would be his last picture.The plot has its nuttier moments, none of it meant to be taken seriously. It has plenty of eye-appeal in the costumes (magnificent gowns) created by Irene Sharaff, inarguably one of the greats in the history of design. There are jewels to glitter and shine and, if they were fakes, they were great fakes.The plot gives Red Skelton plenty of opportunity to do what he did best. Just check out the "beard" scene - you'll know what I mean.OK, so it ain't "Gone With The Wind," or "Of Human Bondage," but it's not supposed to be, even with the Civil War play going on.One of the funniest parts for me was the sound effects guy doing the "hoofbeats" with the coconut shells, even though YOU know that the sound was being made by a Foley guy in post production. But it's a sound made within a picture by someone outside a picture... ahhh, now I'm confusing myself, and probably you, poor reader.Leave your troubles behind. Tune out the kids, the phone, the interruptions, the beds can be made later. Have fun!