Dick und Doof als Wohnungsagenten

L & H are on the run from the law. They are so broke they spent the night sleeping on a park bench. A nearby was not impressed with Stan after he addresses him as 'Ma'am'. They take refuge from the chase in the basement of Colonel Wilburforce Buckshot, who has just left to go on vacation to South Africa.

While hiding they pretend to be the owner and maid (Stan in his guise as Agnes) of the house when a new married couple (Lord Plumtree and his gorgeous wife) come around to rent the place. Obviously the usual hijinks and misunderstandings follow but the comic timing and Stan's indulgence in his Agnes disguise make it a half-hour laugh riot.

Circumstances of poverty force Laurel and Hardy to take refuge from the police in James Finlayson's mansion. But it might be a stroke of luck as Finlayson is about to depart for Africa to shoot big game. He gives instructions to the butler and maid to rent the place for six months, but they leave themselves on a short getaway.

Which gives Ollie the idea to masquerade as Finlayson and rent the place himself. Stan masquerades as the butler.

But when the boys meet with Charles Gerrard and his lovely bride Thelma Todd who knows a maid comes with the package, Stan has to get into drag and quick change drag at that to be both butler and maid. That provides for a series of incredibly funny situations.

Of course it's all a big bust for Stan and Ollie, but you have to see one of their funniest short subjects to see how it all goes bad.

After a weird reading of the credits, the boys find themselves in a mansion where the staff has disappeared. The millionaire, Colonel Buckshot, is off on a Safari. In order to avoid the police, who are after them, Stan and Ollie must impersonate the absent Buckshot and the maid, Agnes, and Hives, the butler. Their interactions are priceless and the story is well scripted. Everything rolls along fine until Buckshot returns. The byplay between our two buddies is priceless. The inimitable Jimmy Finlayson is Buckshot and his quick responses to the craziness in the house are great. But Stan and Ollie really steal the show. Oliver, with his improvised take on a millionaire, and Stanley, once again in drag, stealing every scene. One of the best of the best.

This is an enjoyable remake of the silent feature "Duck Soup", which had played such an important role in establishing Laurel and Hardy as the great comic duo that is now so well- known. This feature follows the same story setup, and expands it slightly while adding in a number of new gags that would not have worked as well on the silent screen.

Once again, Stan and Ollie find themselves forced to impersonate an absent homeowner and his servants, while hosting a prospective renter. The main story is also framed by a brief opening sequence and an interesting, nearly surreal finale. In the main part of the movie, they get a lot of mileage out of the basic situation, and Laurel plays his multiple role in an amusing fashion. James Finlayson gets a couple of good moments near the end, although he does not get as much to do as he did in some of their earlier features.

It packs a lot of material into a little under thirty minutes of running time, and there are a handful of moments when you can just tell that it was an early sound-era movie. But, as this example shows, Laurel and Hardy had little difficulty in successfully adapting their style to the new era.

Having just watched Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy work in a mansion in the silent short From Soup to Nuts, here they are again at another such place in the talkie short Another Fine Mess. This time, they're on the run from the police for sleeping on park benches and they end up in the cellar of the residence of one Colonel Buckshot (James Finlayson) who's leaving on vacation. When they find out that the butler and maid are also taking time off, and with a cop still on the lookout for them, Stan poses as both butler and maid and Ollie poses as the Colonel as a young society couple arrives to rent the place. The lady of that couple is played by Thelma Todd who'd appear in quite a few of the L & H shorts and eventually star in her own Hal Roach series with first Zasu Pitts and then Patsy Kelly. She's quite charming when she converses with Stan's portrayal of maid "Agnes"! Hardy as Buckshot also gets his charms when playing him when conversing with the man of the renting couple who has quite a funny laugh which gets quite a workout here, that's for sure! As for Finlayson, well, he only has the beginning and near the end scenes to appear but he does what he can in those scenes and make them count! All in all, Another Fine Mess was quite a funny L & H short. P. S. The twin ladies who recite the credits at the beginning are Beverly and Betty Mae Crane who served the same function during this period on all Hal Roach shorts like the Our Gang entries Teacher's Pet, School's Out, and Love Business which I've also reviewed on this site. So as we leave Stan & Ollie behind, we next will visit Bud Abbott & Lou Costello when they also come In Society.