Frank Tashlin

The Fuller Brush Man (1948), starring Red Skelton, Janet Blair

In a nutshell, The Fuller Brush Man is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen.   Red Skelton is at his finest, both in verbal comedy as well as in physical slapstick galore.   The basic plot has Red Skelton playing the part of Red Jones, a well-meaning young man … Who keeps getting fired from every job he’s ever held within three weeks.   The girl he loves, Ann Elliot (played by Janet Blair) refuses his marriage proposal. Until he matures enough to be able to provide for a family.   Red decides to emulate his rival for Ann’s love by becoming a door-to-door salesman for the Fuller Brush company.   Unfortunately, this leads him to be the witness to a murder, with the police and gangsters following him … And why are the bad people interested in one of his hairbrushes?