One Good Turn

The 1931 comedy short film "One Good Turn" is without a doubt a classic Laurel and Hardy movie, and I am glad that I had the opportunity to sit down and watch it here in 2022.

The storyline told in this movie is straight forward, and certainly is one of the more enjoyable storylines in all the Laurel and Hardy movies I've seen so far, especially since there is an aspect of being a good samaritan to it.

Of course you have all the usual witty banter and funny slapstick comedy, and that is one of the major ingredients that make these classic comedy movies so enjoyable. And it was something that Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy had managed to get to work in perfect unison.

I had some genuinely good laughs throughout the 20 minutes that "One Good Turn" ran for. And if you enjoy comedy, then you definitely have to sit down and watch "One Good Turn".

My rating of "One Good Turn" lands on a seven out of ten stars.

A nice Laurel & Hardy movie where they are victims of the depression. After Laurel has burned their tent and lost their food and clothes they get something to eat from a nice old lady. They overhear the woman when she is talking to a man. He says she will be thrown out of her house because she can't pay the 100 dollars she owes him. Laurel & Hardy want to help the lady because she helped them. They still own a car and they try to sell it for the 100 dollars they need.

There are some pretty funny moments in this short movie, especially near the end. Another fine one by the two comedians.

Laurel and Hardy are destitute – living by the river in a tent and their car. When Laurel manages to destroy most of their few remaining possessions they are forced to beg door to door for food. A misunderstanding with a kindly old lady leads the duo into a kind act that ultimately leads to a division between them.

This film has no one major strong scene that stuck in my mind, but it does have a consistently funny tale that made me laugh the whole way through. The plot starts with the usual `down on their luck' set up that works very well – Laurel playing with fire is well done. The actual plot device used to create the main story is a little contrived but it is played so well that it doesn't really matter.

All though the short there are lots of nice touches.- Hardy's looks are as good as ever. Some fans may feel that this is more low key than they expected due to the lack of a big sequence, but the smaller, consistent jokes work well to produce a short that lacks a major peak, but then manages to have no dips either.

The cast are good. The little old lady is a little clichéd and James Finlayson has little of value to do, but Laurel and Hardy are both good. Here Laurel keeps his usual character but he also adds a tougher edge. In other shorts he has tended to be one or the other (often being tougher in later films) but here he gets the mix right (apparently due to Laurel wanting to let his daughter see her dad stand up for himself onscreen). Hardy is as good as always.

Overall this lacks peaks but makes up for it by being consistently funny from the opening campfire sequence right through to logs a-flying!

I'm not sure how to take this one. Stan and Ollie have hit bottom during the depression. All they have is an old car and a tent, which is soon destroyed They are reduced to begging and an old lady gives them some food. But because they can't get along, they waste the food, throwing it at each other. When they hear a melodrama being practiced behind closed doors, they think that the old lady is being foreclosed on by Jimmy Finlayson. It is actually a rehearsal for a community play. They decide to sell their car to help the kind old lady out. Well things go south. The thing with this episode is that they end up in a confrontation that detracts form their normal relationships. It's still worth a watch with quite a surprise ending.

"One Good Turn" is a Laurel & Hardy short with some good moments. Stan and Ollie are reduced to begging, and arrive at the home of a friendly old woman who offers them a meal. While in her house, the boys misunderstand some events in the woman's life, and their well-meant but misguided attempts to help her out create more problems than they solve. The build-up to the gags in this one takes a bit longer than usual, but there are some good laughs to make up for it. One of the funniest parts is near the beginning when Stanley tries to extinguish an out-of-control campfire.