Earthworm Tractors (1936) User Reviews

Loopy, Lively Joe E. Brown Vehicle

[abooboo-2 · 7/10 · 17 April 2001]

Takes a while to get moving but really gathers steam. Employs one of the most sure-fire comedy recipes: take a gung-ho dimwit and pair him with a grumpy old coot and you're just about guaranteed to get laughs. I wasn't really familiar with Joe E. Brown's work before this movie and had generally avoided films from the 30's (for no good reason) but consider me a fan. He's a funny guy, though perhaps it's a brand of humor that works best in the 1930's. His "natural born salesman" Alexander Botts never loses confidence in his abilities despite the fact that he is quite frankly, a total screw-up. What is somewhat unique about his comic persona is that he gleefully, recklessly puts himself in situations where he is in way over his head and knows it, but doesn't seem to care. One way or another, he's sure he will always land on his feet. This sort of attitude must have had enormous appeal in the Depression era.

Maybe a little too broad and "cute" at times, it is also quite inspired at others. It has a carefree loopiness that's very endearing and some rather elaborate stunts and sight gags. The whole thing is really just a fun loving excuse to get Brown and Guy Kibbee (who is a master at the art of bloated befuddlement) together and watch the sparks fly.

Salesman wanted

[jotix100 · 7/10 · 29 July 2005]

Joe E. Brown was the star of some of these short films produced by Warner Bros. Mr. Brown was an excellent comedy actor, as can be appreciated in "Earthworm Tractors". The film relies on its star to be the center of the action in this funny movie that shows Mr. Brown's talents under the direction of Ray Enright.

The film has some amazing sequences that makes the viewer wonder how were they executed because in those days the special effects technology wasn't that much developed. The first one involves Alexander Botts (Joe E. Brown) give the prospective client, Sam Johnson (Guy Kibbee) a demonstration and we watch the tractor practically destroy everything in sight! The second one is at the end of the film and again, Alexander takes the scared Mr. Johnson to a place where dynamite is being used to clear the area and we watch in disbelief how Botts make it through a suspended bridge that keeps shedding its base as he goes up, an amazing feat for 1936.

Joe E. Brown gives an incredible performance. The supporting cast, June Travis, Guy Kibbee, Charles Wilson, Carol Hughes and Dick Foran, among others, are also good.

Catch it whenever is shown on cable. It's always a pleasure to see Joe E. Brown on the screen.

Brown and Kibbee - The Legendary Comedy Team That Never Was

[bbrebozo · 7/10 · 26 November 2014]

This is a very pleasant and enjoyable comedy, with a lot of clever laughs. Perfect for one of those Saturday or Sunday afternoons when you just want to disconnect, and indulge in a little pointless old-time movie watching.

Joe E. Brown is a self-proclaimed Natural Born Salesman (it even says so on his business card), whose confidence greatly outweighs his actual sales abilities. He's the type of salesman who bumbles into jam after jam, says and does exactly the wrong things, and yet somehow stumbles into making a sale in the end.

And Guy Kibbee is his perfect foil, as the blustery, old fashioned owner of a company that needs the new-fangled Earthworm Tractors that Brown sells, in order to survive. But the irritable Kibbee loudly rejects Brown's wild sales pitches throughout the film, which just drives the stubborn and determined Brown to make even wilder pitches, in an effort to sell him the tractors. Blustery windbags were Kibbee's sweet spot as an actor,and he and Brown make a great comedy team in this film. If they had stuck together through a series of movies, they might have achieved Laurel-and-Hardy legendary status. The one small criticism that I have of this film is that the two of them don't get enough screen time together.

This is a movie made with directors and writers who knew what they were doing, and stars who were hitting their stride. I watched this film alone one afternoon, and laughed out loud at several points, which is truly the mark of a great comedy.

Or perhaps a crazy person.

No. Great comedy. Try it.

Very Good 30's-Style Comedy

[Snow Leopard · 3 July 2001]

"Earthworm Tractors" is a very good 30's-style comedy, with pleasantly silly main characters and a story designed to set up some good comic sequences. It's the kind of movie that can easily come out badly if not done with some skill, but this one is done nicely and it works.

Joe E. Brown plays Alexander Botts, a self-described born salesman and master mechanic, whose real talent is for getting in over his head. His attempts to make a big sale of tractors to grumpy, old-fashioned lumberman Johnson (Guy Kibbee) lead him into one disaster after another. Much of it is stock humor, but it is pleasantly done, and there are some particularly funny sequences of the tractor rampaging out of control. Kibbee and Brown are both good, giving deliberately exaggerated performances that work well. It's mostly a two-man show, but the rest of the cast does well when called on.

Anyone who likes comedies of the era should enjoy this film. It's very pleasant, and at times is hilarious.

Very pleasant and enjoyable...

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 18 May 2010]

I gotta say it up front that I am not a huge fan of Joe E. Brown's films. Much of the reason is that in many of his films he often plays unlikable guys--real fat-heads (such as in one of his most famous films, "Alibi Ike"). Audiences in the 1930s loved his films, but I've never had much love for them. Imagine, then, to my surprise when I saw a minor Brown outing and actually liked it! This was even more surprising, as for some odd reason Warner Brothers didn't even bother renewing the copyright on "Earthworm Tractors" and allowed it to slip into the public domain! You'd assume in a case like this that the film was a real dog!

The film begins with Brown playing a guy who wants to marry his sweetheart, though her father can't stand him. To impress the Old Man, he decides to get a salesman job--though since he is a bit daft, you know the road will be a bit bumpy to say the least! When he approaches the Earthworm Tractor Company, they do not hire him, but Brown starts working as a representative for them anyway! He certainly isn't a salesman who takes 'no' for an answer! Along the way, he meets another nice young lady who he falls in love with--but what about his other girl? And, in a case of déjà vu, the new girl's father (Guy Kibbee) also doesn't particularly like Brown---but he's also a rich guy who NEEDS a tractor--or so his daughter thinks.

The film succeeds, I think, because Brown is more likable. Sure, he's still a bit of the usual rube but this time he's NOT selfish and overconfident--at least no where nearly like many of his other films ("Fireman Save My Child" comes to mind here). In addition, the stunts are amazingly good for a 1930s comedy--and a heck of a lot better for the craptastic stunts he'd soon have in his films by the David Loew's studio--which was a major career misstep in hindsight. Likable and pleasant--while not a great comedy, there is a lot to like and it's a nice change of pace.

Brown is Botts to the "T"

[JohnHowardReid · 7/10 · 20 January 2007]

This exceptionally noisy comedy is an absolute must for all Joe E. Brown and mechanical tractor fans. Others may find Mr Brown's determined camera-hogging heavy going, though it must be admitted that all the other major male players (with the notable exception of Dick Foran) try to steal scenes too by constantly shouting at the top of their voices.

Although June Travis is pretty enough, the girls get hardly a look-in.

Of course there are also several spectacularly staged accidents to keep our eyes riveted on Mr Brown. And it must be admitted, director Enright keeps the plot moving along at a commendably rapid pace.

"It can do anything"

[bkoganbing · 7/10 · 19 March 2020]

Earthworm Tractors is the name of the product that Joe E. Brown is hired to sell. Of course it would be helpful if he actually knew the product. But things like lack of knowledge stopped the bragadocious Brown before in this or any other film.

Brown gets assigned a territory where his biggest potential customer is the cranky, cantankerous Guy Kibbee who is a wee bit deaf. Kibbee owns the biggest lumber company in the area and it's a big commission at stake. His daughter June Travis is pulling for Joe, but Kibbee is a hard sell.

This is one of Joe E. Brown's best comedies for Warner Brothers in the 30s. Two really great scenes are in this showing Brown's comedic ability to great advantage. The first is Brown moving the Kibbee/Travis house with them inside. The second is Brown and Kibbee on a wild rollercoaster like ride on the tractor over a mountain which is being dynamited. I guarantee the laughs will be many.

Earthworm Tractors still holds up well from the Depression 30s and still has a lot of laughs. A must for Joe E. Brown fans.

If it weren't for bad luck, he still couldn't sell a broken mirror...

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 5 March 2013]

Alexander Botts thinks he can sell anything, even the awful title of this movie. But don't let that fool you. This is actually an enjoyable "B" comedy with Joe E. Brown playing an overly bombastic young man, determined to make good as a tractor salesman. Earthworm Tractors is actually the name of the company, its rival company named Elephant Tractors.

Desperate to sell a tractor to cantankerous lumber field owner Guy Kibbee and win the love of his pretty daughter (June Travis), Brown demonstrates it, causing nothing but trouble, at one point moving Kibbee and Travis cross town in their house, attached to the one of the tractors, while Kibbee believes they are going through an earthquake. The film ends with a dangerous comedy sequence of the tractor moving across a rickety bridge as explosions rock the mountains around him and Kibbee.

Character actor Gene Lockhart plays a salesman who keeps accidentally drinking shoe polish, thinking its scotch, while Carol Hughes plays another one of Brown's love interests with Olin Howland as her father who thinks Brown is a total wastrel.

This fast moving programmer is filled with lots of sight gags galore. Brown is endearing and sweet in spite of his character's excessive enthusiasm and braggart persona. Seemingly a set-up for a potential for a potential series for Brown (it was based upon a series of magazine short stories), it came at the end of his Warner Brothers contract and did not continue.

Joe E. Brown at his best in "Earthworm Tractors"

[zardoz-13 · 10/10 · 1 January 2008]

Before comedian Jim Carrey came along with to tickle us with his elastic-faced antics, there was Joe E. Brown. This hilarious 1936 vehicle "Earthworm Tractors" shows Brown in top comic form as Alexander Botts, a boastful character in the stories of author William Hazlett Upson, who touts himself as 'a natural born salesman and master mechanic.' Born in 1891, William Hazlett Upson worked as a service mechanic and trouble-shooter for Holt Caterpillar Tractor Company. In 1923, Upson started writing short stories. In 1927, the nationally published general interest magazine "Saturday Evening Post" published his first yarn about caterpillar tractor salesman Alexander Botts. Upson wrote his stories in the form of letters and memos between Botts and his boss. Alexander Botts wants to marry pretty Sally Blair (Carol Hughes of "D.O.A."), but he faces stiff competition from broad-shouldered Emmet McManus (brawny Dick Foran of "The Petrified Desert") who drives a nice car. Botts demonstrates the latest product that he sells. This gadget is a pipe that you blow into that sends a little cork up a string and attaches itself to a hook. Grandiosely, he describes this contraption as "a little novelty that opens the pores, clears the eyes, takes the mind off business worries, and last but not least brings laughter back into the life of the working man."

Predictably, Sally's father (Olin Howland of "The Paleface") is appalled and contemptuously calls him a 'peddler.' Emmet laughs uproariously, too. Sally refuses to wed a salesman who sells frivolous items. Together, they scan the pages of a magazine to find something 'big, important, and worthwhile' for him to push, and Botts settles eventually on selling bulldozers for the Earthworm Caterpillar Company. He hopes that Sally will delay any trips to the altar until he can prove that he can sell these bulldozers.

Back in his hotel room, equipped with a phone, Botts types out a letter to the Earthworm Tractor Company and the boss, H.J. Russell (Charles Wilson of "The Mayor of Hell") likes the letter. "It shows the kind of nerve it takes to make sales," proclaims Russell and he sends George Healey (Gene Lockhart of "Northern Pursuit") t0 meet him in Cypress City, Mississippi, to demonstrate the Earthworm Tractor. When Healey meets Botts, he suspects that Botts isn't everything that he has stacked himself up to be as a mechanic. Healey only wants him to demonstrate the Earthworm to a Mr. Jackson, but he guzzles a bottle of what appears to be whiskey but turns out to be shoe polish and winds up sick. Cheerfully, Botts takes his place to make the sale. Healey has told him to look up a Mr. Jackson, but of course, Botts gets Jackson mixed up with Johnson and heads off to sell Johnson. In town, Botts helps a damsel-in-distress, Mabel Johnson (June Travis of "Circus Girl"), who has gotten her convertible sedan stuck in the mud. Botts wraps a rope around her bumper, around a nearby light pole and ties it off to a taxi. The results are hysterical. The back end of the cab is pulled off. The light pole crashes through the glass doors at the bank, but Mabel's car is freed from the mud. Botts tells one and all that the Earthworm Tractor Company will pay for all the damages.

Mabel gives Botts a lift to see her father, cantankerous Sam Johnson (the irrepressible Guy Kibbee of "Babbitt"), who suffers from a hearing loss problem and constantly reprimands his one employee for watching the clock. Johnson hates all things automotive, because he brought a truck and got it stuck in a swamp where it's still sets. Botts comes up with a stratagem to entice Johnson to buy his tractor when he offers to pull Johnson's truck out of the bog with an Earthworm tractor. Johnson and Botts ride to the railway depot in Johnson's horse and wagon. Botts and he climb aboard the Earthworm and Botts—who has never driven a bulldozer—promptly demolishes everything in sight at the depot and then takes the Earthworm down to the swamp. Again, he destroys Johnson's truck. However, in the process of all the mayhem, Botts convinces Mr. Jackson—the man that he was supposed to see—into buying six Earthworms. Before news of the sale reaches Russell, Russell has fired Healey and Botts, but he rehires Botts.

This is only the first half of this wonderfully funny movie. Ray Enright never wastes a moment. When Joe E. Brown doesn't have you in stitches, then Guy Kibbee has you laughing until you want to burst.

A classic comedy!

earthworm tractors

[mossgrymk · 7/10 · 25 August 2023]

In my opinion this is Joe E. Brown's best comedy for the main and simple reason that it is the only one with even intermittent rather than zero laughter. Said laughs mostly come in the three scenes involving Brown's misadventures with the title vehicle although Guy Kibee flirts with hilarity as the Eternal Curmudgeon and there are some nice quirky bits, as well, like those involving Mr. Jackson's cast iron stomach and the plethora of Johnsons in the greater Chicago area phone book. It also helps that Brown's signature brassy character is an endearing boob rather than, as in the baseball comedies, an unredeemed, arrogant butthole. So lift your shoe polish glass in a toast to that great American BS artist not from Florida, Alexander Botts. B minus.

Loud!

[LynxMatthews · 4/10 · 25 October 2004]

Joe E. Brown, best remembered as the guy who gets the last laugh in "Some Like it Hot" had a whole slew of movies where he was the star. This is the first I've seen, and while he is likable enough, this movie ain't that good.

He and just about everyone else in the film talks very loud all the time, and because it involves tractors, there is often the loud roar of tractors with people shouting over them. Add to this that one of the movie's recurring gags revolves around a guy who cannot hear very well, and you can see why you may end up with a headache after this.

Strong points: Crazy tractor chase through explosives at the end. Why do the people keep blasting at them with dynamite? God knows, but the scene of the tractor on the rickety bridge is quite hair-raising.

Funny bit of detail (spoiler) that the guy who beats our hero for the hand of one girl turns out to be a freeloader.

When our hero calls every person named Johnson in Chicago in an effort to find his love.

Mister Brown & Mister Kibbee Score Comedic Success

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 2 December 2001]

Alexander C. Botts - a natural born salesman - tries to sell EARTHWORM TRACTORS to a most unwilling businessman.

Based on William Hazlett Upson's short stories for the Saturday Evening Post, this very funny, fast-paced film is an excellent vehicle for Joe E. Brown. His great rubbery face registering amusement, determination or frustration, Brown propels himself from one slapstick situation to another. His goofy antics - moving his girlfriend's house without her permission is just one of them - are genuinely hilarious.

Human pepper pot Guy Kibbee is Brown's perfect foil. Eyes bulging & voice booming, he inevitably finds himself involved in Brown's more dangerous schemes. At one point, words utterly failing him, he discovers his only possible response to Brown's incredible behavior is a quick sock on the jaw.

Mention should be made of laconic Olin Howlin, shoe polish guzzling Gene Lockhart & telephone operator Rosalind Marquis, each of whom add bright moments to the film.

Alert movie mavens will spot two humorous goofs early in the film: 1) In the first scene, when rival Dick Foran parks his car in front of pretty Carol Hughes' home, the cameraman & camera are perfectly reflected in the convertible's driver side window; 2) A little later on, Joe E. Brown's white suit is mad-splattered when he tries to extricate lovely June Travis' auto from a puddle - but when he jumps in with her moments later the fabric has miraculously laundered itself.

Wacky Fun With Tractors

[sambase-38773 · 7/10 · 4 August 2023]

Who doesn't love a good tractor? The whole world loves a good tractor. Tractor's are very useful, unlike racing cars which are useless and very dangerous. So if you ever have a choice between a racing car and a tractor, take the tractor. You won't regret it. Your wife might regret it, but you won't.

I really enjoyed the way this movie started. Joe E. Brown is a door-to-door peddler who sells goofy little devices. He's also after a girl (aren't we all) and both she and her father hate peddlers that sell small things. Uh-oh. So Joe decides to find something big to sell. Tractors. This is where all the tractor fun starts. The tractors are really the stars of this movie, no disrespect to Joe intended, but it's hard to compete with tractors. They're big. They're strong. They make a lot of noise. And they can do almost anything.

From here on out it just gets wackier and crazier and is very funny.

If you like Joe E Brown give this a shot, anyone else should stay away

[dbborroughs · 3/10 · 29 December 2008]

Joe E Brown is a salesman in love with a girl who is better at getting in over his head then actually selling anything. Somehow the mechanically disinclined Brown decides to sell a tractor to a farmer who opposes the very thought of having a tractor at all.

From my point of view this is an unfunny comedy with Brown playing a part about 15 years too young for him (Brown looks more like his girls father not her lover). You either accept Brown as a super salesman, which he claims or you don't. I didn't and really didn't care. Its clear why Brown never really has survived as a comedian of note, he was very much of a type that didn't survive. Not my cup of tea. It may work for you, it didn't for me.

The world premier.

[nemsis · 5 March 1999]

The world premier of this movie was held in Peoria Illinois in 1936. Peoria is the home of Caterpillar tractor company on which the Earthworm tractor was loosely based. The movie referred to Peoria being the base for Earthworm Tractor Co. Joe E. Brown attended the premier and the street in front of the Madison theater was packed. It was also one of the hottest nights of the season.

Natural born salesman vs. hard boiled customer

[csteidler · 6/10 · 17 March 2024]

Joe E. Brown stars as the irrepressible Alexander Botts, self-proclaimed "natural born salesman." He sets out to sell a fleet of tractors to hard-boiled lumber yard owner Guy Kibbee, who most emphatically does not believe in these newfangled tractor things. But our hero does not give up quickly - partly because Kibbee's daughter keeps offering him advice and encouragement.

June Travis is just fine in the predictable but pleasant role of the attractive daughter. Kibbee is great fun to watch as the flustered businessman who is given more than one unwanted ride on Brown's machine (a piece of equipment that we today might call a bulldozer rather than a tractor).

Other familiar faces appear in supporting roles, including Gene Lockhart and Joseph Crehan as Earthworm Tractor Company employees, and Carol Hughes and Dick Foran as an old flame and old rival back in Brown's hometown.

Joe E. Brown has a unique screen presence that is possibly not for everyone, I suppose, although I always find him easy to watch. The lightweight story is very silly but moves along nicely. The action actually gets pretty wild a couple of times when Brown gets behind the controls of that big tractor.

some tractor fun

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 29 July 2023]

Alexander Botts (Joe E. Brown) claims to be a natural born salesman. He also claims to be a master mechanic. He is selling the Earthworm tractor. He tries to sell one to grumpy lumberman Sam Johnson (Guy Kibbee) with a bit of help from Sam's daughter Mabel (June Travis).

I can see Joe E. Brown as an early talkie comedian. He definitely has the looks for it. For this movie, I couldn't decide whether he's an overconfident liar or a clueless friendly everyman. In the end, I ended up with the friend. The tractor is a fun stunt vehicle. It's great to run over stuff and destroy stuff. It allows for some fun stunt work.

"A natural born salesman like me can sell anything!"

[classicsoncall · 5/10 · 3 February 2024]

I liked Joe E. Brown a lot better when I was a kid catching his films every once in a while. As an adult, I find him a little grating at times, even caustic. In this picture, his character Alexander Botts has an outsized ego that insists he's the best of all time at anything he attempts. In this case, he's the greatest natural born salesman in the world, and he sets out to prove it. As a salesman for Earthworm Tractors of Earthworm City, Illinois, Botts only proves that he's the single greatest demolition derby in the history of tractor sales. Trying to land his first sale, he runs rampant through Cypress City with business owner Sam Johnson (Guy Kibbee) held hostage in the passenger seat of a tractor, ultimately winding up in a swamp and destroying Johnson's truck that was stuck in the mud. That little escapade caught the attention of Tom Jackson (William B. Davidson), so impressed with the power and maneuverability of the Earthworm Tractor, that he placed an order for six of them! This is one of those pictures in which the protagonist makes lemonade out of every lemon he runs into. Probably the funniest and best choreographed segment involved Botts hitching up the Johnson house to move it to another location, and tossing its owner and pretty Mabel Johnson (June Travis) helter skelter inside while barely avoiding a major mishap at a railroad crossing. And so it goes for the rest of the story as the hapless Botts pulls victory from the jaws of defeat with every outing, while winning the hand of Miss Mabel at the close of the story.

So, do I think you'll enjoy this effort at madcap entertainment? In the spirit of Alexander Botts's dichotomous character - chances are yes, but then again, maybe no.