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The movie is amusing enough but it's far from being the best Laurel & Hardy silent comedy shorts. The movie is at certain points dragging to much for that, especially toward its stretched out ending.

It's a movie that certainly does have its great comical moments but not quite enough to really stand out as a comedy. The movie has a fun premise and some good comical moments and situations. However these moments and situations are rather stretched out in this movie, which causes them to be too long with as a result that it loses some of its comical power. This especially is the case in the ending of the movie, which takes too long. It makes the movie as a whole also feel too long, even though it of course is shorter than 20 minutes.

But yes, the good moments in this movie certainly make sure that you'll still be entertained by this movie as a whole.

The boys are in good form in this movie, which was one of their first teaming ups as a comedy duo. Especially Stan Laurel is in his element, while Oliver Hardy was still clearly searching and developing his character. It was a bit weird to see the boys without hair but unlike Samson, they don't lose any of their power. It's always fun to see James Finlayson in a Laurel & Hardy movie, even when it's a silent one. I thought I also noticed Walter Long as one of the convicts but I'm not too sure of this, also since he isn't credited.

Slightly disappointing when compared to Laurel & Hardy's other work but entertaining enough to watch nevertheless.

6/10

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Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were comedic geniuses, individually and together, and their partnership was deservedly iconic and one of the best there was. They left behind a large body of work, a vast majority of it being entertaining to classic comedy, at their best they were hilarious and their best efforts were great examples of how to do comedy without being juvenile or distasteful.

'The Second Hundred Years' is nowhere near classic Laurel and Hardy, later films, short and feature, had stronger chemistry when fully formed and used their considerable talents better. At this point, Laurel was much funnier and more interesting while Hardy in most of the previous outings had too little to do. 'The Second Hundred Years' is still worth watching though and is an improvement on some of their previous short films, along with 'Duck Soup', 'While Girls Love Sailors' and 'Sailors, Beware!' it was up there as among Laurel and Hardy's best up to this point.

Personally would have liked more sly wit that made their later entries better.

The story is a bit busy at times and both slight and formulaic. Have to concur too with the ending sequence being too long and over-stretched.

Laurel however is very funny, and sometimes hilarious, like as was said for a few of his previous outings 'The Second Hundred Years' is worth seeing for him alone. Hardy is at least not wasted, and he does give one of his funniest and most interesting appearances of his pairings with Laurel up to this point despite his persona being not as fully formed as Laurel's. The chemistry is much more here than in previous outings of theirs if still evolving. Support is nice.

A good deal of the humour is well timed, hugely energetic and very funny, with everything going at a lively pace, and there is a lot of charm and good nature to keep one going. 'The Second Hundred Years' looks quite good.

To conclude, decent. 7/10 Bethany Cox

There are some good sight gags in this silent Laurel & Hardy comedy, but there's very little plot to speak of. The boys sport shaven heads as they play a pair of convicts attempting to escape from prison and the film follows their various doomed attempts. They dig a tunnel only to strike a water pipe and end up surfacing in the warden's office. Sent to the exercise yard, they're forced to perform exercises. They eventually escape disguised as painters but are followed by a cop and end up painting half the town in their attempts to shake him off. They find themselves back in prison when they hijack the car of a pair of French dignitaries visiting the prison.

Most of Laurel & Hardy's silent films lose some of the boy's inimitable character simply because we can't hear their voices, and this one's no exception. There are a few funny moments – when the pair instantly assume the marching position, hand on the shoulder of the man in front, when the dinner gong sounds as they're pretending to be the French dignitaries, for example, but you can't help feeling it would be more enjoyable if you could just hear them speak. When Ollie can't voice his frustration and Stan can't squeakily express his distress we only really have half the act.

Stan and Ollie are in prison and are constantly trying to escape. The problem is that they are idiots and every plan they try fails. Some of them are pretty funny and some a bit too silly in this film. This is one of the earlier Laurel and Hardy films, so I'm cutting it a bit of slack in scoring it a 6. The problem is that this prison comedy, while funny, also has a couple bits where the timing is just awful and they milk gags way too long--something you'd never see in their later and more polished films.

The first of these over-long bits is when prisoners Stan and Ollie try to escape by pretending to be painters. When a guard becomes suspicious and follows them out of the prison, they start painting EVERYTHING in sight. When I was a kid and saw this, I thought it was hilarious. Now, as an adult, it just seemed stupid--and NOT in a good way! The second was the awful dining scene where Stan chases a cherry all around the table with his spoon. This "funny" bit was often seen in films before this with other comics and it just isn't funny--and it goes on and on far too long.

Overall, even poor Laurel and Hardy is pretty funny and worth seeing. So give this one a look but understand it's not up to their usual high standards.

THE SECOND HUNDRED YEARS

Aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Sound format: Silent

(Black and white - Short film)

Two jail birds (Laurel and Hardy) escape from custody and assume the identities of French dignitaries who turn out to be prison inspectors (Otto Fries and Bob O'Conor) on their way to the very jail from which L&H have just escaped! Havoc ensues.

One of the best of L&H's silent comedies, and certainly their best collaboration with director Fred Guiol. This one features a full range of amusing set-pieces, including an inspired sequence in which The Boys elude a nosey cop by pretending to be painters (only to end up painting everything in sight, including someone's car!), and the lengthy scene in which they're mistaken for visiting VIP's and received at the prison as guests of honor by warden James Finlayson, only to cause chaos at the dinner table. The escalation of comic incidents is entirely believable throughout. However, the film also contains an offensive sight gag, when L&H accidentally slap white paint all over the face of an African-American passer-by.