Jeanskynebu the audience applauded

AshUnow This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

Fatma Suarez The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Logan By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

fcasanova First saw this movie on late 1950's TV, about 10 years after it was made. As a kid, I thought it was hilarious. Just watched again in 2011 and wondered if I would perceive it to be as funny as I did 50 years ago. I still love it. Not as much as a 10 year old perhaps, but Skelton can hold his own in his comedic genius through the decades. Of course the writing team of Frank & Panama also later wrote Danny Kaye's "The Court Jester" where they use the same tongue-twister rhyming lines to make hilarious running gags... and the hero's continuous use of secret code questions...to all the wrong people. Makes me want to revisit all the old Red Skelton movies of the late 40's and early 50's.

charlytully If you watch this movie half asleep, it soon becomes nearly impossible to decipher which characters are Union, which are in Union uniforms who actually are Confederate spies, which are Confederate, which are in Confederate uniforms who actually are Union spies, which are civilians dressed up in one uniform or another, and which are totally incompetent at their jobs (which apparently includes the majority of the characters in this 1948 black and white film, which apparently was considered a comedy in its time).Similarly, nowadays if you watch the major cable news networks in the U.S. in the SLEEPING BEAUTY-like slumber spell that seems to have engulfed the majority of the citizenry, it is nearly impossible to tell who are Labor Party stalwarts, or which laborites actually are Greed Party sympathizers in Labor's clothing. While it is not THAT difficult to identify hard-core Greedsters, there apparently are a significant number that actually may be Labor at heart, but just toe the Greed Party line for the money. Most amazingly, half of the civilian laborers support the Greed Party, which shows what you can accomplish in the way of brain-washing with the current choke-hold the GP has on the mass media. Which is why A SOUTHERN YANKEE is a perfect mindless diversion from today's realities (such as the fact that every state of the Ol' Confederacy is now a TAKER--as in, they take more than their fair share of per capita national tax dollars, while every state that helped free the slaves 150 years ago is now a DONOR, as in their citizens let themselves be ripped off by the descendants of the treasonous losers).

bkoganbing Although with Buster Keaton working as gag man on this film and while he did have a lot of influence on this film, A Southern Yankee had other influences besides Keaton's famous general. For myself I caught a bit of Duck Soup in the mix and also the plot premise is the same one as two very serious previous films.The idea of two spies falling in love with each other was done as serious drama in the British film Dark Journey with Vivien Leigh and Conrad Veidt. Later on it was used by MGM in their musical The Firefly that starred Jeanette MacDonald and Allan Jones. But I think someone at MGM must have thought this could be the basis of a comedy, it may have been Buster Keaton who thought it would be a good film idea for Red Skelton.A Southern Yankee finds Red Skelton as a bellboy in St. Louis who is a northern sympathizer and wants to do something for the Union cause. Given that he's a klutz, Red's dismissed by all the parties involved.But when he accidentally captures a notorious Confederate agent, the army sees a chance to use him and sends him south with some fake plans for a southern general and a message for one of the Union undercover men. Red's willing, but the spirit is weak especially around Arlene Dahl who is the daughter of Confederate general Charles Dingle. And he's got some other double agents and triple agents to deal with like Brian Donlevy, John Ireland, and George Coulouris.It's hard to describe A Southern Yankee from here on because the gags come fast and furious. Red's two trips to the dentist was one long sustained gag and very good. Of course the gag remembered best is the one where Red is trapped with both the Blue and Gray firing at him from opposite directions. He manages to escape that predicament in a truly interesting manner I won't reveal.And if you don't think that A Southern Yankee might have had a bit of inspiration from the serious films I cited, if you've seen both Dark Journey and The Firefly, you'll know exactly A Southern Yankee ends.

ccthemovieman-1 I own all of Buster Keaton's silent films and who doesn't love Red Skelton? Having said that, this film stinks. Keaton helped write the film, which is probably why critics were reluctant to criticize it. However, the fact is that is was not funny. It was stupid, particularly in the first half hour. By then, it probably lost a number of viewers who watched this on VHS in the 1990s, as I did. (It was released on tape in 1994.)This film also had the presence of Brian Donlevy, Arlene Dahl, John Ireland and more....all good actors....but the dialog was just d-u-m-b. Maybe this was funny in 1948, but I guarantee you the laughs aren't there almost 60 years later. What made people laugh back in the '40s doesn't always work today and they will probably say a similar thing 60 years from now.Still, it's tough to knock the comedic talents of Red Skelton. If anyone a generation later could equal Keaton in silent comedy bits, it would be Red. He demonstrated that every week on his television show. After that terrible start, the film got better and it was fun seeing the bumbling bellboy (Skelton) do something right, for a change, but I just think overall the humor of the '40s doesn't cut it today. Sorry.