Build Your Vocabulary (1948)

★★★★★ · MR. WILLIS ISSUES EXPLICIT ULTIMATUM · Christine Hennig · 2003-12-08

Petes dad, Mr. Willis, has a problem (Pete doesnt have a problem, which is unusual for a Coronet film). It seems that folks keep usin all these high-fallutin words around him, words like explicit and anthology. It darn near drives him nuts (in a very campy scene) until he starts writin in one a them-there vocabulary notebooks. Now he can finally understand what his wife is talking about! This is a very campy film. Its main character is pathetically stupid, so much so that you get the impression that the only thing keeping him in his job is the fact that hes a white male. He even gets the book…

★★★★★ · English is nearly impossible to master, even as a first language. · HuckleberryFinn · 2004-04-12

Some total idiot can't talk and decides that he really should learn some 3+ syllable words. Word Learning turns out to be a frustrating mess, and he almost gives up, tormented by the voices in his questionably schizophrenic head, reciting vocabulary he is unfamiliar with. He finally decides that it's worth learning new words to avoid looking stupid at a town council meeting where he is asking for more parks(?) This film is both condescending and completely implausible. It rocks.

★★★★★ · A fine classic film · PrelingerFan · 2014-06-20

The actor who appears as Mr. Willis was a fine radio and stage actor from the Chicago area named Frank McLaughlin. It's wonderful to be able to see him again. By the way, this particular Coronet film was filmed in color, and available in both color and black and white prints.

★★★★ · Use them big words! · Spuzz · 2003-02-17

Coronet guidance films for adults are few and far between, I never knew they existed. So I was surprised when I viewed 'Build Your Vocabulary' as it presents a Mr Willis, struggling to make a speech at a town hall meeting. He then marvels at his son's term paper (called "Parks, Playgrounds or National Monuments?" and presented in an ugly duotang) He reads the first page and marvels at all the big words his son uses. He learns that NO, his son doesnt use these words every day, but it sure helps to build your vocabulary for when the time sees fit. Seriously, Mr Willis is pushing 50 and he's…

★★★ · What you talkin' about Willis? · Retro Geek · 2010-07-16

Mr. Willis appears to be a 50+ year old American white bread male who cannot communicate or express himself. Everyone, including his own wife and son, is using complicated and confusing words that he does not understand. This apparently has not hindered his ability to hold down an executive position. He manages to write very good business letters even though he admits he doesn't understand the meaning of the words he uses which ought to scare his superiors. However, like all good Coronet films, he can solve all his problems if he keeps a list of the words he doesn't understand and then spend…

★★★ · Diagnosis: Pre-senile Dementia · JSBejma · 2014-09-24

Wait just a minute. Mr Willis has a desk job, lofty enough for having his own secretary; walks around in a suit even at home; attends and participates at municipal meetings; and his honor student son feels compelled to have Dad'ums review his high school term paper? Yet the guy can't understand ordinary language? Oh, oh. Receptive aphasia apparently. Looks like early symptoms of dementia. Note his facial expression at the meeting at the beginning of the movie. Yup. It's organic. What they don't show at the end is that he has his underwear on over his suit pants. Very nice handwriting though.…