#criterion

Back in the 90s, we discovered this scene on The Criterion Collection's Princess Bride laserdisc. Then, as now, Criterion provided a bounty of extras; and amongst all the Princess Bride commentary and background was a curious addition: a scene from an episode of Rob Reiner's very short-lived 1991 TV series, Morton & Hayes.

I'm not certain why it's on the laserdisc; the only connection with The Princess Bride appears to be that it was another swordfight scene that Reiner was involved in. As usual with Criterion, the director has a lot of say in their presentation of the movie, and he may have suggested it be added to the extras.

(BTW, Reiner didn't direct this Morton & Hayes episode ("Daffy Dicks") -- it was Christopher Guest, who also starred in it.)

Morton & Hayes was a true oddball -- an attempt to recreate (as best as I can determine) old 1940's black-and-white movie comedy for a modern (well, 1990s) audience. It seems to have been built on the bones of the Abbott and Costello movies (Morton and Hayes resemble the 2 significantly -- particularly the straight man/clown dynamic), though the humor was closer to Bob Hope's 40s stuff (e.g., the 1939 The Cat and the Canary).

Some context for the scene: Catherine O'Hara's character is, basically, a homicidal Veronica Lake spoof, who is revealed at the end of the episode (a murder mystery comedy) as the evil twin of her saintly (and wealthy) sister, who she has murdered, along with about everyone else in the mansion, to inherit her sister's vast fortune.

The only other characters remaining in the mansion are our two hapless detectives, Morton & Hayes; and the scene opens as she prepares to snuff them out.

(Also, you have to admire a script that contains that fine old phrase, "the shank of the evening".)

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