Though Blondie Has Servant Trouble is directed and written by series regulars Frank R. Strayer and Richard Flournoy and Arthur Lake (Dagwood) and Penny Singleton (Blondie) are as good as ever, this is one of the weakest of the 28 Blondie films, because it ignores the populist elements that make this such a satisfying series: the trials and tribulations of work, home and child-rearing. There isn't even any "servant trouble" because there aren't any servants, the Bumsteads can't afford them, as tired as Blondie is of housework, cooking, et al. Blondie wants Dagwood to ask for a raise but instead he kicks his boss, Mr. Dithers, in the butt (somewhat accidentally; he thought it was someone else). Mr. Dithers sends Mr. and Mrs. Bumstead to instead stay in a house that he is trying to sell so that it will seem occupied. The servants who turn up turn out to be a sinister couple who felt that the magician who owned the house (and recently died) had stolen all their magic secrets.
The humor, such as it is, consists of walls disappearing and rabbits appearing in hats and some marginally effective slapstick, such as when Blondie has to keep whacking Dagwood in the back with a pillow when he gets a flashlight stuck in his mouth. The Bumsteads worry about their son constantly disappearing as he wanders around the house and Ray Turner plays a "colored boy" sent to the "haunted house" as part of a lodge initiation, and maintaining a certain dignity in a stereotyped role.
For better examples of the effective populism of the Blondie series see my posts of May 9, May 25, June 7, and Sept. 24 of 2018.
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