A Hal Roach product. One of those rare 45 min. films that's neither clearly a full feature comedy nor a comedy short : the latter usually running 20-30min.. The screenplay focuses on 2 subjects : 1) The conflict between old fashioned Mrs. Snodgrass(Kathleen Howard) and her liberal next door neighbor, Miss Pandora Polly(Zasu Pitts), over the excessively strict code of conduct, especially between young people, that Mrs. Snodgrass espouses. Mrs. Snodgrass, as head of the Civic League, considers herself the unofficial town expert on mores. Polly is hardly alone in opposing the Civic League's agenda, but others are too intimidated to speak up in opposition..........The second topic of interest is Polly's handyman and crackpot inventor Slim Wilkens(Slim Sumerville). His first invention we encounter is the supposedly burglar-proof mailbox, which has an alarm that rings when the door is opened. Inside are 2 pistols that fire several shots, in case the alarm didn't scare away the intruder.(How the owner gets around these defenses is not discussed!)........ Then, there's his award-winning combo lawn mower, leaf raker, and gopher smoker gismo. The latter consists of s long hose that transmits a volley of choking smoke into the gopher's hole, making it exit by another hole. But, one time , it got crazy and went up to the Snodgrass's 2nd story window where Barbara Snodgrass (Elysa Knox) was cleaning the window. She gets several face fulls of smoke, plus a couple of backfires, before it was corralled. In fact, this is the room her mother locked her in to keep her from associating with her boyfriend Eddie(Richard Clayton). Later, while cutting the grass, it gets out of control and mows down some of Mrs. Snodgrass's hedge and flower beds....... Then, we find that Slim has put a safety device on the kitchen stove. But Slim turns on a burner without a pilot light., then goes looking for a match. When he lights the burner, it blows up the kitchen!....... One final invention : a small cannon that launches a projectile that makes a zip line. He claims it's safe and noiseless, but, of course, it's any thing but. They want to get Barbara out of her locked room, down where she can socialize with her boyfriend. The projectile does make it inside her window, and she slides down it, but the explosion wrecked Polly's living room.(I think she best fire Slim!)..........Slim talks Barbara into eloping, but then she hears her mother calling, and reneges She goes up the zip line(?) and knocks her mother down on her landing.........Polly talks about a special wine in her wine cellar, that her husband used to sip, to give him energy. It works on Slim, and her housekeeper Patsy. When she takes some, she runs outside and flirts with the young grocery boy, then goes to town and comes out wearing a gorgeous white outfit, then goes to the town meeting, where Mrs. Snodgrass is espousing her agenda. Polly walks up the aisle and questions her, having the audience participate. Eventually, Mrs. Snodgrass faints, and Polly gives her some of her wine to revive her. When she gets up, she wants to chase Slim amorously, and we see them running out of the hall. Yes, silly! .......Although Mrs. Snodgrass was dominating the meeting, officially, Mayor Walsh was the chairman. Ferris Taylor, who played the mayor, looked amazingly like Guy Kibbee. See the film at YouTube.
