Machine Gun Mama (DVD)

Crude Brooklyn ex-patriots John O'Reilly (Wallace Ford) and Ollie Swenson (El Brendel) are running from the law in the eccentric, absurdist 40s comedy, Machine Gun Mama.

John and Ollie find themselves broke and saddled with an elephant as they flee from the authorities in Mexico. Seeking to unload the pachyderm, they infiltrate a wild carnival run by cunning ringmaster Alberto Cordova and his smart and sexy teenage daughter, Nita.When John dunks the underdressed Nita in a cold water tank, sparks fly between the couple. What starts as a feud transforms into romance as Ollie distracts Alberto with the subject of the elephant's name. Ollie calls her "Bunny" while Alberto christens her "Dolores." The zany mayhem crescendos at a huge fiesta wherein the past catches up with the boys and Nita seeks to become John's full-time girl.

Filmed by poverty row studio, Producer Releasing Corporation, Machine Gun Mama is a high energy musical slapstick farce brimming with wacky caricatures and unusually surreal comic flourishes.

• comedy