On their scrapyard, hobo Freddy the Freeloader (Red Skelton) and his
bum friend (Jackie Coogan) find an original painting by Leonardo Da Vinci,
but at first they use it for nothing better than keep the snow out of
their hut. Only gradually it dawns upon them the painting might actually
be worth some money, and they invite art dealer Guido (Vincent Price) to
their shack.
Guido of course desperately wants the Da Vinci, but he doesn't want to
pay too much for it, so he tries to cheat the two out of the painting,
even with the help of a prominent art critic (Ernest Sarracino), but the
two realize they are being had, so they get some art critics of their own
to assess the painting, and when they realize out of how much money Guido
actually wanted to cheat them, they don't even sell the painting to him
when he offers a million Dollars.
This of course drives good Guido to the edge and he one day comes back
to Guido carrying a gun. But Freddy, who has been warned, has tailored
himself a coat out of the Da Vinci, so te hide it from Guido before his
very eyes. And in the end, when Freddy tells Guido he has cut up the
painting, Guido uses the gun against himself.
Not too much of a story here, but Jackie Coogan and Vincent Price both
show talent for comedy to carry their scenes. Only the show's star, Red
Skelton, is not really up to the comedy: On one hand he's way too aware
that he's saying something funny and seems to be constantly giggling about
the lines he's about to deliver instead of keeping a straight face that
this kind of comedy would need, on the other hand, why the hell is his
mouth made up clown-like ? That totally destroys his character
right from the start.
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