Synopsis
The girls are going on a camping trip.
Backs to Nature
Director
Genre
Releases by Date
Theatrical
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USA
Releases by Country
USA
14 Nov 1933
- Theatrical
Popular reviews
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Indelible lesbian fantasy of Patsy and Thelma going on a private nature retreat that has no heterosexual explanation. They sleep in the same bed, wear butch clothes, and Patsy calls Thelma toots. Like other entries in the series, it features Thelma shoving Patsy into a chair and saying Now, stay put. The final image is of their adjacent naked backs. If Patsy Kelly asked me to spend my vacation camping with her, I, for one, would need no persuading.
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The girls Todd and Patsy need a vacation big time from their small time hectic day job as baggage check/cigar’s/cigarettes/information/ticket booth clerks…the girls go camping in the woods per Patsy’s idea, where Thelma can get much needed rest under natures great outdoors…and Patsy will do her best to ensure Thelma gets her beauty rest.
They overloaded this short with silly physical mishaps, one after another. So, long before the adage Murphy’s Law, there was Patsy’s Law “When you can’t do right for doing wrong..keep trying, something’s gotta give..just make sure you get out of the way.”
And one would think babes in the woods would’ve been a better title choice…but I’d noticed how they incorporated this title into a scene.
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My review: thefilmediary.wordpress.com/2022/08/28/backs-to-nature-1933-review-applying-queer-theory-to-thelma-todd-and-patsy-kelly-films-part-2/
Excerpt:
Backs to Nature is the first tale of Thelma and Patsy to not have to serve as an introduction to the characters. As you’d expect, it does present our heroes and ask you to interpret them. Let’s see what they’re like and what they do in situations. See Thelma and Patsy cook food in a fire started in the middle of the woods; conflict with customers in a day job, despite this film being about the wilderness; and lesbian subtext for critics ninety years in the future to interpret or make up. -
After Zasu Pitts left Hal Roach’s studio, Roach tapped Patsy Kelly to replace her in the series of short comedies Pitts had been making with Thelma Todd. Todd and Kelly made 21 shorts together before Todd died unexpectedly. In general, the Todd-Kelly entries in the series are weaker than the Todd-Pitts ones.
That’s certainly the case here, with the gals camping in the woods for their vacation. Several of the gags are utterly predictable: Kelly chops down a tree that knocks over their tent, a bear looks for the bacon hidden under Todd’s pillow, etc. The deeper problem for me, though, is that Todd and Pitts were a study in contrasts, whereas Todd’s and Kelly’s personae weren’t that different from…
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A couple of fast-talking gals, Patsy (Patsy Kelly) and Thelma (Thelma Todd), take a vacation in the woods.
A lot of dad and visual jokes. It has its moments.
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Patsy talks a reluctant Thelma into going into the woods for their vacation and instantly regrets it. If you like the girls you'll enjoy this short.
