# Anyone know what old movie this is? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 10, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694 "2003-10-10T16:41:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/1 "2003-10-10T16:41:57Z")
I only saw part of this movie a long time ago and have never been able to find it again. It was a comedy, in black and white. Here’s the little snippet I remember: an Italian guy, in a warehouse sort of setting, is chopping up a squid and singing to it: _“…bet you thought you were a real cute kid (something something something) stupid, stupid squid.”_ Anyone recognize it? ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/2 "2013-08-12T16:16:09Z")
Hope it’s okay to reanimate my own ten year old zombie. I’d still really love to know the name of this movie! ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/3 "2013-08-12T16:47:43Z")
Sure it’s OK but can you add any information? Year approximation? Any other scenes? Descriptions of any other actors? The barest glimmer of a plot? ---
**Author:** ![Kimballkid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b5a626/32.png) [@Kimballkid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimballkid)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/4 "2013-08-12T16:53:36Z")
_Cannery Row_? ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/5 "2013-08-12T17:13:34Z")
> [@Ellen\_Cherry](#): > > Sure it’s OK but can you add any information? Year approximation? Any other scenes? Descriptions of any other actors? The barest glimmer of a plot? Not much, **Ellen** , sorry. The only thing I can think of to add is that, if I’m remembering right, it was kind of similar in look and feel to a Marx Brothers movie. But if it was, you guys would have had it in 10 seconds, so I’m pretty confident it wasn’t. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/6 "2013-08-12T18:42:40Z")
Could it have been Dean Martin in one of his movies with Jerry Lewis? They were lower than low budget… ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/7 "2013-08-12T19:23:08Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > Could it have been Dean Martin in one of his movies with Jerry Lewis? They were lower than low budget… I don’t recall either of them in it, **terentii** , and thanks, **Kimballkid** , but I don’t think it was _Cannery Row_, either. Maybe it was part of some old TV show episode, or I hallucinated the whole thing. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/8 "2013-08-12T19:31:44Z")
> [@koeeoaddi](#): > > I don’t recall either of them in it, **terentii** , and thanks, **Kimballkid** , but I don’t think it was _Cannery Row_, either. Maybe it was part of some old TV show episode, or I hallucinated the whole thing. ☹ How big was the squid? (Just thinking that information might help narrow down the possibilities. For instance, ‘chopping up a squid’ would be less likely as a scene in an American-set movie or show from years ago. Though squid has been eaten here for years (particularly in seafood or Italian restaurants), it’s not a “staple,” so to speak. Fresh-squid-pulled-from-the-sea isn’t something you’d find in many parts of the nation. So maybe that means that your remembered scene was set in Italy.) ((It’s terrible that you’ve been haunted by this for nearly a decade!)) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/9 "2013-08-12T20:53:00Z")
The Bowery Boys? Abbott and Costello? The Three Stooges? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![bibliophage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bibliophage/32/7615_2.png) [@bibliophage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bibliophage)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/10 "2013-08-12T20:53:17Z")
Steinbeck’s novel _Tortilla Flat_ involves somebody working at cutting squid to raise money for … something. I forget the details. The characters are Mexican-American, not Italian. I’ve never seen the movie. ---
**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/11 "2013-08-12T23:06:07Z")
> [@bibliophage](#): > > Steinbeck’s novel _Tortilla Flat_ involves somebody working at cutting squid to raise money for … something. I forget the details. The characters are Mexican-American, not Italian. I’ve never seen the movie. DING! DING! DING! DING! We think we have a winner! How do I know? It’s the [song I remembered](http://www.larryhosford.net/SC%20Lyrics/Ai,%20Ai,%20Paisano.htm). _Oh you little squid, you ugly little squid, I promised I would go to work, and that is what I did, Oh you little squid, you homely little squid, I bet your Mama thinks that you’re a pretty kid. Ai, Ai, Paisano! La vida es asi._ Thank you, **bibliophage**! ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [August 12, 2013, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/12 "2013-08-12T23:14:50Z")
Isn’t it lovely to have an itch scratched after sooooo long? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/13 "2013-08-13T01:31:27Z")
Can I piggy-back onto this one. The other night, on a local programming channel, they had this movie from the 1930’s. A down-on-her-luck gal inherits this old run-down hotel from an aunt. It’s inhabited by mobsters which causes the hijinks. The guy with her looked exactly like George Burns - eyeglasses, mannerisms - just the way he stood around - except I don’t think it was him. Searching IMDB brings nothing. It was pretty funny and very entertaining, but I couldn’t be sure who any one was. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/14 "2013-08-13T02:00:06Z")
> [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](#): > > The guy with her looked exactly like George Burns - eyeglasses, mannerisms - just the way he stood around - except I don’t think it was him. The old George Burns or the relatively young one who was a big hit with Gracie Allen? :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/15 "2013-08-13T03:55:31Z")
_Tortilla Flat_ was a comedy? ---
**Author:** ![Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/face_intentionally_left_blank/32/288_2.png) [@Face\_Intentionally\_Left\_Blank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Face_Intentionally_Left_Blank)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2013, 3:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/16 "2013-08-13T03:57:16Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > _Tortilla Flat_ was a comedy? Tortilla flat was a _MOVIE_? ---
**Author:** ![Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ba8739/32.png) [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Backwater_Under_Duck)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/17 "2013-08-14T01:24:28Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The old George Burns or the relatively young one who was a big hit with Gracie Allen? :dubious: There was an older one? The relatively young one who was a big hit with Gracie Allen was born in 1896 which would put him in his thirties at the time of this flick. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2013, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anyone-know-what-old-movie-this-is/206694/18 "2013-08-14T02:58:09Z")
> [@Backwater\_Under\_Duck](#): > > There was an older one? The relatively young one who was a big hit with Gracie Allen was born in 1896 which would put him in his thirties at the time of this flick. You consider someone in his 30s to be “old”?!? :eek: George and Gracie in the 1930s: [![](http://www.hpvf.com/catalog/1f_1_b_1567_1.JPG) ](http://www.hpvf.com/catalog/1f_1_b_1567_1.JPG) George before he croaked on the high side of 100: [http://cbsmiami.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/george-burns.jpg?w=620](http://cbsmiami.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/george-burns.jpg?w=620) One helluva difference, if you ask me! :dubious: