Only Saps Work (1930)

5.5 | Dec 05, 1930 (US) | Comedy, Crime | 01:17

robbery detective con man stolen money hypochondriac crook attraction bank robbery comedy routine pre-code landlady meet cute bellboy rich snob kleptomaniac simpleton former athlete comedy cheerful pantry boy social error

You Just Know It's Funny!

Rubber-legged comedian Leon Errol made his talkie starring bow in Paramount's Only Saps Work. Based on a play by Owen Davis Sr., the film casts Errol as James Wilson, a kleptomaniac who starts with picking pockets and ends up robbing a bank. Wilson's friend Lawrence Payne (Richard Arlen) inadvertently aids our hero during one of his heists, ending up in deep doo-doo with the law. Before Wilson is able to extricate Payne from his dilemma for the sake of heroine Barbara Tanner (Mary Brian), he pauses long enough to pose as a private eye -- and even gives bellboy Oscar (Stu Erwin) tips on how to spot a crook! If only all of Leon Errol's feature films had been as consistently hilarious as Only Saps Work.