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STUDIO: Lionsgate
MSRP: $19.98 RATED: NR
RUNNING TIME: 150 Minutes
SPECIAL FEATURE: A Trailer
Whenever writing a review about films from classic comedians like Laurel and Hardy, there’s always a temptation to list the big names for a comparison. Chaplin and Keaton are usually first in line. Arguments on which was the better physical comedian of those two go on to this day. Next in line is sometimes W.C. Fields, The Three Stooges and perhaps The Keystone Cops. Fatty Arbuckle isn’t normally mentioned because few people today have seen any of his films. Honestly though, the best comparisons for Laurel and Hardy have to be The Little Rascals. Beyond that both sets of comedy teams were produced by Hal Roach Studios, they had a very similar style. Sure The Little Rascals were children aping their larger "counterparts" characteristics, but they didn’t have to stretch to do it. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were children in an adult world. Their wives were always in a position of authority over them. They’d sass other adults but when those adults turned to confront them, Laurel and Hardy would hightail it away. The man-child bit seems to connect well with audiences which is why whenever an actor is trying for an obvious Oscar grab, they time and again portray the mentally handicapped.
Losing a bet over a technicality was always frustrating,
but Hardy had to admit that this mess truly was less than fine.
The Flicks
Three years after releasing the first set of Laurel and Hardy movies, Lionsgate has released set number two (read Justin Granzin’s great review of set one here). Justin finally gets his wish and we get three more short films from the Laurel and Hardy library. Included here are Chickens Come Home, Way Out West and Block-Heads. Here we have three beautiful examples of the duo doing what they do best.
Stan Laurel was the thinner one and played the slightly more feeble-minded of the two. The delayed reaction is an early comedian mainstay, but Laurel would take it a few beats more than most. As they say, it’s all about the timing and Laurel could stretch his out longer than anyone else. Also in keeping with his ignorance-is-bliss motif, Laurel could do magnificent things simply because he didn’t know it was impossible. When out of matches, he could light his own thumb or he could pull down the shade in the light cast from an open window.
Oliver Hardy was the angrier, blustery, larger of the two. He had an innate need to take charge of any situation, which usually led to ridiculously complicated avenues to solutions. Some of Hardy’s best bits are when he’s doing everyday things like adjusting the office supplies on his desk. He added a flourish to each movement almost as though he were a magician performing a trick. Hardy utilized the delayed reaction as well, mostly in response to some line or action by Laurel. This is where the "team" in comedy team comes in. Laurel and Hardy played off of one another, creating a level of comedy greater than the sum of each individually.
The unofficial third member of the Laurel and Hardy duo is this man:
This is James Finlayson. If you’ve ever seen a Laurel and Hardy flick, chances are you’ve seen this man in action as he is in nearly every one in some small part or other. He is debatably the grand master of double takes. When Finlayson reacted to something, his whole body twisted, contorted and landed in a position of full-on disbelief. This man makes Jim Carrey’s overacting look like a Shakespearian trained British actor in comparison. If acting is reacting and comedy acting is overreacting, then Finlayson was a third level altogether. No one can get away with the amount of physical comedy that this man threw himself into in every role. He was also famous for what they call the "slow burn", but what I always referred to as the "evil eye". Ofttimes when reacting to another actor, Finlayson would scrunch up his face and squint one eye to the point of near-closed. He’d then slowly tremble with rage. James Finlayson was an undeniably a hilarious man and in the interest of spreading the word on his genius, we’ll include a "Finlayson Watch" in every individual review of the shorts provided on this set.
If you can get past how utterly disgusting it is, you have to admit his aim was amazing.
Chickens Come Home is the first short on this disk and clocks in at exactly 30 minutes. Laurel and Hardy are upstanding businessmen who sell manure (and don’t think they don’t play off that). Hardy is running for mayor when a woman from his distant past returns with some evidence that he was a little wilder in his youth. The evidence in question is a picture of Hardy wearing a muumuu at the beach with a woman in a swimsuit on his shoulders. Honestly, that’s damning evidence? Oh, how times have changed. Unless, of course, wearing a muumuu is a visual shortcut for snorting cocaine or smoking pot (not inhaling, though) but then even that doesn’t seem to keep someone from being elected anymore.
Of course from here scheduling conflicts ensue. Hardy is having a dinner party that night which just so happens to coincide with his clandestine meeting with the other woman for her payoff. Laurel is dispatched to keep her occupied, which doesn’t last long. Eventually everyone converges on the dinner party and Hardy runs between rooms trying to keep everyone separated.
This is one of the low-end efforts from the duo. Albeit still incredibly funny, Chickens Come Home is still not as good as some of their classics. This is due mostly to too much screen time devoted to side characters who don’t have near the comic abilities as the leads.
Finlayson Watch – Our boy plays Hardy’s butler in this one. He silently threatens to expose Hardy’s ruse at every turn unless he gets a gratuity. Hardy hands over some cash and the two laugh together like old friends. We also get to see Finlayson do an incredible double take, pause, then another one (quadruple take?) at the end. Believe me, it is one of the funniest things you will ever see. Even if you are not a fan of the double take, this one will get you.
7.2 out of 10
"Oh sure, you can’t miss it. Just make a left at I Know You Are But What Am I Road
and then a right at Friday Flip-Up Day Way."
Way Out West is considered by some to be Laurel and Hardy’s best feature (not me, I like The Music Box which is on the first set). The two clumsy oafs are on a mission to deliver the deed for a gold mine to a girl living in an old West town saloon. Of course the owner of the saloon and his wife try to finagle the deed from the hapless two. For a feature that is 65 minutes long (the longest on this set), there really isn’t a lot to this short. This is because of the four time-eating musical numbers. It shouldn’t come as any surprise that Oliver Hardy has a beautiful singing voice. We used to demand more from our performers in the 30s. Presently anyone who can sing, dance and act is considered a triple threat. Back then it was par for the course as most performers had plenty of stage experience.
It’s always fun to laugh at the analog nature of early film’s attempts at effects. Normally they are achieved during post by effecting the actual film stock in some way. Other times they will stop the film and adjust the set and begin rolling again, a technique used ad naseum for the old Bewitched episodes. Then, every so often they surprise you with an effect that is just incredibly good. Like this:
This shot is of Laurel trying to pull Hardy up through the floor with his head. I rewound this thing and watched it a few times and have no idea how they did it. I assume that they have a fake head and some kind of stretchy material for the neck, but geez that’s a good fake head. Then again, it may be animated. superimposing cartoons over live action footage was not unheard of then. Maybe an explanation of this might have been a good extra feature, but we’ll get to that later in the review.
Finlayson Watch – Mr. Finlayson plays a comparatively large part in this one. He’s the evil saloon owner involved in chicanery. With an extension of his usual screen time, Finlayson tones it down a bit here so as not to overdo it. He plays evil relatively well stopping just short of twisting his bushy mustache. His crowning moment in this feature is the double take he gives Laurel and Hardy’s dust cloud that they kick up the second time they’re run out of town. Classic.
8.9 out of 10
Eventually the game of Extreme Got Your Nose escelated to the point where firearms were brandished.
Block-Heads is the third and final feature on this set and clocks in at 57 minutes. In the final year of what at the time the considered The War to End All Wars, Laurel is told by his commanding officer to guard a post while Hardy and the rest of the troop storm the lines. In the confusion that occurs, everyone forgets about Laurel and he is left there for twenty years. Since no word has been sent to him, Laurel assumes the war is still on and continues with his guard duty. Eventually he is discovered by a German pilot and is returned to America. Meanwhile, Hardy has married what is perhaps the most angry, shrill woman available in the States. That’s one thing about these two’s films: there are barely any women who aren’t domineering or conniving. Now and again you’ll find the pure-hearted lass, but she’s put upon by less than scrupulous folks. There is nary a strong woman role model to be found in any Laurel and Hardy feature.
When Laurel returns to America, Hardy discovers that his old friend has come home and heads to the veteran’s hospital to retrieve him. He promises Laurel a nice, thick steak for dinner apparently forgetting that Hardy’s wife is a less than accommodating hostess. After a few trips up and down the thirteen flights of stairs to Hardy’s apartment (interacting with many of his neighbors along the way) they finally meet up with Hardy’s wife. And the neighbor’s wife. And the neighbor’s wife’s husband who just happens to be a big game hunter with a newly fashioned elephant gun.
"Oh no you don’t, Speedy! Now it’s time for the cuddling."
Of the three features on this set, this is my favorite. The plot has many more facets to it and some of the comedy bits are drawn out to better conclusions. Such as the scene where Hardy first shows up at the hospital to meet with Laurel. Laurel is sitting out on the lawn and finds that a wheelchair has a much more comfortable seat. Unfortunately, a leg brace on the chair is too short for his leg so Laurel bends his knee and sits on his foot leading Hardy to believe that Laurel had lost his leg in the war. It isn’t until much later after Hardy has carried Laurel to the car that he discovers Laurel still has use of both his lower limbs. This feature alone makes the $19.98 worth it.
Finlayson Watch – In Block-Heads, our man is one of the neighbors in Hardy’s building. When the duo sits at one point to rest, Finlayson politely asks them to make room while striking them about their heads with his cane. Finlayson then refers to Hardy as an "overstuffed polywog" and they decide to head to the street to sort things out via fisticuffs. This is a short appearance by Finlayson, but still rife with his visual bits. The combatative nature of his relationship with Hardy here allows for many instances of Finlayson’s "evil eye".
9.3 out of 10
It wasn’t until recently that the "evidence" was discovered buried under Hal Roach Studios.
The Look
They did a fine job of remastering this set. There is still plenty of scratches and evidence of torn film, but then you kind of expect that sort of thing with stock over 60 years old. Some issues with the clarity were evident even while these features were in pristine condition such as overexposures. All in all, you couldn’t ask for a better picture. The score for this section will be in regard to how poor this set could looked without any touch-up.
8.6 out of 10
The Noise
The first short Chickens Come Home has quite a bit of warble in the soundtrack, particularly when the women are talking. Otherwise, the restoration here is fantastic. Crisp and clear and no unnecessary touch-ups. Just a cleaning of the tracks. Way to go, Lionsgate. Although in a regular DVD review the inclusion of just a mono track would seriously hinder a score, this I think you’ll agree is a special case. They fixed it up nicely. The score would have been higher if the aforementioned warbling had been dealt with.
8.1 out of 10
"Oh no! There must be cans in here too!"
The Goodies
Trailer. The lone extra on this set is a trailer (commercial?) for the first set. As you will have noticed from Justin’s review, they included a documentary short, some text biographies and information on a Laurel and Hardy fan club. So really the extra on this disk is a commercial for a disk with better extras. That’s too bad as this is going to drag the overall grade of this otherwise phenominal disk down.
0.1 out of 10
The Artwork
They have a nice shot of Laurel and Hardy back-to-back on the cover with big smiles. Then they destroy it by adding color to it Ted Turner-style. What could have been a classy looking case now looks like it belongs in the bargain bin. The back side is much better as it is done in black and silver with a couple of clippings from the original posters. Somebody in marketing told the cover art guys that they had to add color. That marketing guy is a jerk.
4.2 out of 10
Yeah, heel, toe, docie do
Come on baby, let’s go boot scootin’
Overall: 7.5 out of 10