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Leave 'em Laughing Released by MGM, 28 Jan 1928 - 2 reels A pleasant but lightweight entry, this one involves a trip to the dentist. The Boys inhale too much laughing gas and then try to drive home, still laughing themselves sick. Edgar Kennedy pretty much steals the proceedings as a long-suffering traffic cop. In light of our familiarity with sound films, it's odd watching two men laugh hysterically in silence...but still, if seen with a good audience, contagious. It's not nearly as funny when watched alone. The Finishing Touch Released by MGM, 25 Feb 1928 - 2 reels Here's the entire plot: Stan and Ollie build a house. The result is a pretty funny short which has The Boys well into the characters we know and love. Nothing particularly memorable beyond that. The building that is erected and demolished in the course of the film was constructed just for the occasion on an empty lot in Culver City, not far from the Roach Studio. From Soup to Nuts Released by MGM, 24 Mar 1928 - 2 reels Anita Garvin was one of the funniest (and classiest) ladies to ever set foot in a silent comedy. Here, she shines as a high society hostess who has the unfortunate luck of calling an employment agency for butlers and getting Stan and Ollie. Mr. Hardy keeps attempting to serve large cakes and winding up face-first in them. Mr. Laurel is ordered to serve the salad without dressing and the audience is way ahead of the joke. A fine film, which was later remade as the first two reels of A Chump at Oxford. Like a couple of their shorts, this one is heavy with verbal gags on title cards, suggesting that The Boys were innocently moving towards becoming talking comedians without knowing it. In some cases, such material may be funnier now to us because we can "read" the title cards with the familiar inflections of Stan and Oliver in our heads, imagining how they would say them...a luxury denied to audiences of the day who, of course, did not know their voices or unique speech patterns. You're Darn Tootin' Released by MGM, 21 Apr 1928 - 2 reels The Boys are bad street musicians — another instance of a premise that cried out for sound. Eventually, they start a street fight that involves everyone kicking everyone else in the shin and ripping off any trousers within sight. It's largely a funny film because of the broad slapstick, but you can also see Stan and Ollie moving towards more subtle, personality humor. The "first act," which involves Hardy attempting to add salt to his soup, is the kind of low-key character comedy that set them above and beyond the pie-throwers. It also nicely balanced the savagery of finales like the one in this film. Their Purple Moment Released by MGM, 19 May 1928 - 2 reels The first of many "getting away from the wives" films finds Stan and Ollie married but determined to get out and have a great time. To that end, they save up money for a big night on the town but their wives come upon the stash and switch The Boys' money for cigarette coupons. Stan and Ollie go to a swank nightery, live it up and even offer to pay the check for two "fun" ladies who have abandoned by deadbeat dates. Then, of course, it turns out that Laurel and Hardy haven't any money, either. As originally filmed, the ending involved the boys trying sneak out by getting down on their knees and blending in with a troupe of midget entertainers. That whole sequence was deleted after previews and replaced with a simpler, more slapsticky finale, and the end result was a good but not great movie. Like many of their films of this period, the amount of plot and "situation" seemed to cry out for sound...but that was still a year in the future. Should Married Men Go Home? Released by MGM, 8 Sept 1928 - 2 reels Mrs. Hardy orders Stan and Ollie from the house. They wind up on the golf course, a locale where almost everyone on the Roach lot — Hardy, especially — could often be found after working hours. Before they get there, they stop at a soda fountain where they attempt to purchase beverages for a couple of young ladies...a sequence so wordy with pantomimed and title card dialogue that it cried out for sound. (The following year, when pictures could talk, The Boys promptly reprised the material for Men O' War.) Then they get to the links and wind up in a mud fight with Edgar Kennedy, who plays another golfer. A pretty good little film. John Aasen, who stood 8'9" tall, is best remembered for his role in Harold Lloyd's Why Worry? Early to Bed Released by MGM, 6 Oct 1928 - 2 reels A momentary throwback (thankfully, the last) to the days before everyone figured out that Stan and Ollie should always play two dimwitted partners. In this one, Ollie is a rich playboy and Stan, his butler. Most of the gags — like one in which Hardy impersonates a statue in a fountain and tries to keep a steady stream of water coming out of his mouth — are retreads from other, earlier Roach shorts. Not a very good film, especially considering how well they were otherwise evolving. Two Tars Released by MGM, 3 Nov 1928 - 2 reels The Boys are sailors again, this time out for a drive with their dates. It all devolves into a street fight, with dozens of motorists destroying one another's cars. Widely hailed as a classic silent, this film was extraordinarily popular at the time of its release and went a long way to establishing Stan and Oliver as popular comedians. It stands up well, though the "reciprocal destruction" bit was done better elsewhere. (I once knew a car buff who hated this movie, not because it wasn't funny but because he couldn't bear to see the destruction of so many of what are now regarded as vintage automobiles.) This was the first of thirty Laurel and Hardy films with a bit role by Baldwin Cooke, an old friend of Stan's and a partner in Laurel's act during his vaudeville days. It was also the first of twenty-six Laurel and Hardy films with Harry Bernard, a former Sennett stock player who'd become a Hal Roach stock player. Habeas Corpus Released by MGM, 1 Dec 1928 - 2 reels They're hired by a mad scientist to dig up some corpses from a local graveyard for his experiments. This means lots of running around and being scared in what is basically just another "ghost" comedy. In the career of most other comedians, this film would be a major work but by now, Laurel and Hardy were outgrowing — usually — such easy, by-the-numbers material. The film does, however, provide a showy role for Charley Rogers, a former British musical hall performer and a friend of Stan's who became one of The Boys' main gagmen and occasional director. And Habeas Corpus also marked a first, hesitant step into sound films. Laurel and Hardy shot this and their next eight films silent and then most (not all) of them were scored with music and synchronized sound effects for the benefit of those theaters that were equipped for the new "talkies." We Faw Down Released by MGM, 29 Dec 1928 - 2 reels Another "getting away from the wives" comedy, this was the first Laurel and Hardy short directed by Leo McCarey, who would go on to become a major filmmaker at Roach and elsewhere. McCarey had been working for some time as a writer and supervisor on the Roach lot, and is often credited with suggesting the teaming of Stan and Ollie, and of later engineering their slowdown, moving away from frenetic, Sennett-variety slapstick to more nuanced personality humor. Some have suggested that while McCarey probably deserves some credit for both, it is wrong to single him out as some historians have. The transition to slower-paced character comedy seems like a matter of Laurel getting "in sync" with Hardy's natural rhythms and style, braking the thought process of his screen character down to fit. In any case, McCarey's first directing effort for them is a funny film but not as funny as the later, classic Sons of the Desert that was more or less a remake. The Boys lie about going to the movies and, while they're elsewhere having a wild time, the theatre burns down and this is reported on the news. The end gag, showing errant husbands leaping from a dozen windows, was recycled as the punch line of their later feature, Block-Heads.
Liberty Released by MGM, 26 Jan 1929 - 2 reels Another "two act" film. Stan and Oliver are escaped convicts and, for the first half of the film, they're wearing each other's pants, trying to find a private place to exchange them. This is, by and large, very funny footage, most of which was shot for We Faw Down but excised when that film ran long. The second half of Liberty finds them teetering high on the girders of skyscraper that is under construction — a locale more suited to Harold Lloyd, and one which makes little use of The Boys' personalities and relationship. Still, the scenes are visually fascinating and the pace is quick, making for one of their stronger silent films. As per the Lloyd method, the film was shot atop an actual building — or, rather, on a girder structure that was erected atop an actual building in downtown L.A. This allowed real backgrounds to create the illusion of height, though Stan and Ollie were still taking some physical risk when they clowned about on the girders.
Wrong Again Released by MGM, 23 Feb 1929 - 2 reels The Boys hear that "Blue Boy" has been stolen and that the owner is offering a reward. What the owner wants back is a painting but Stan and Ollie, who are working as stable-hands, think it's the horse of the same name. They take the latter to the owner's mansion and at his request, attempt to put "Blue Boy" back atop the piano. This was a silly short, reportedly inspired by a dream that McCarey had while under a dentist's anesthetic...funny, but the joke goes on a little longer than it's worth. Most impressive is the engineering by the Roach technical crew when it constructed the piano gag. Some Laurel/Hardy films were harmed by weak special effects — like an object "flying" through the air that was too obviously on a wire. But here, the special effects are flawless and convincing. In most shots, it really does look like Babe is supporting that piano and horse with his head. That's My Wife Released by MGM, 23 Mar 1929 - 2 reels Ollie's rich uncle is visiting and expecting to meet his nephew's new wife. But Mrs. Hardy has walked out on him...so Stan winds up putting on a dress and filling in, even when they go out to dinner in a fancy restaurant. One of their funnier "drag" comedies, perhaps because the humor doesn't depend solely on that. Jimmy Aubrey, who had also appeared in the not-dissimilar Their Purple Moment, had once been a member of the Fred Karno troupe (with Stan) and a star of comedy films (with Ollie in support). Big Business Released by MGM, 20 Apr 1929 - 2 reels Stan and Ollie are door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen in this film, which was actually filmed Christmas week of 1928. When they come to the home of one James Finlayson, a fight erupts that builds into each side trying maniacally to destroy the property of the other. This was the best film in which The Boys did their "reciprocal destruction" routine — one party watches passively as the other does some damage to his person or property and then reciprocates. The result was perhaps their funniest silent short. A lot of the best laughs come from Fin's reactions and from cutaways to Tiny Sandford as a policeman, calmly taking in the proceedings — an aspect of the joke that was often omitted when they did similar bits. (There is no truth to the oft-repeated story that the crew accidentally set up at, and therefore destroyed the wrong house.)
Double Whoopee Released by MGM, 18 May 1929 - 2 reels Arriving at a posh hotel to apply for jobs, The Boys are at first mistaken for visiting royalty. Eventually, they become doormen in this funny film that is best remembered for the scene in which Jean Harlow loses her dress. Another highlight is an early scene wherein Hardy, with the grandiose gesturing he had by now developed on screen, attempts to write his name in a guest book. "Captain" John Peters, who portrays a parody of Erich Von Stroheim, was actually Von Stroheim's stand-in — a job which in Hollywood then, apparently earned you the rank of Captain. Bacon Grabbers Released by MGM, 19 Oct 1929 - 2 reels This time, they're process servers and their mission is to repossess Edgar Kennedy's radio and serve him with a subpoena. A war of wills breaks out...as they so often do in these films, and of course the whole thing becomes more trouble than it's worth. Kennedy, as always, is a funny foil and the results are quite pleasant. Several books erroneously list this one as The Boys' last silent film but it was actually the next-to-last they made, and its distribution was delayed to clear the way for their early talking pictures. Angora Love Released by MGM, 14 Dec 1929 - 2 reels One of three films — the other two are Laughing Gravy and The Chimp — where the plot basically comes down to: The Boys try to keep their landlord from finding out they're hiding an animal in their room. In this case, it's a goat, and much of the fun comes from their attempts to give the animal a bath without the landlord (Edgar Kennedy) getting wind of it. This generally amusing short was filmed in early March of '29 and work was occasionally interrupted because workers were hauling in and installing the equipment that would enable Hal Roach Studios to begin shooting talkies, which they did before the month was out. Several of The Boys' sound shorts were distributed to theaters before the last few silents were seen by the public. |
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© 2007 Mark Evanier Hosted by Dreamhost |
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