Dick und Doof in der Manege

I have a fondness for "The Chimp" as it was the first time I saw a Laurel and Hardy film. That was about 1983 and I haven't stopped laughing at Stan and Ollie's antics ever since. In the above film, they are members of the local circus. Due to their blundering incompetence, the circus has to close up. Regulars James Finlayson and Tiny Sandford make welcome appearances during the opening scene. Ollie doesn't particularly care for a comment made by Stan at the beginning of the film. The owner being flat broke, gives his employees a share of the circus in place of their salary. Each person draws a certain animal. In the case of Laurel and Hardy, the former picks the box of fleas and the latter a gorilla named Ethel. After being chased by the lion of the circus, the three of them need to find a room for the night. That is where the trouble begins! I laugh myself silly, every time I watch the bit where Ollie can't retrieve his own trousers and Ethel lends a hand! Her and Ollie don't get on too well but she likes Stan alright. The scene where Ollie is stalked by the same lion is very funny. Billy Gilbert is on top form as a somewhat perturbed landlord of the boarding house where Ollie attempts to procure a room. He has hardly rung the doorbell before he is yanked into the building and wonders what the hell is going on! To his credit, Billy Gilbert is sincere in his apologises. Gilbert was certainly blessed with a powerful voice and he puts it to good use (David Niven eat your heart out). The dancing scene was well done as Stan and Ollie struggle to get some sleep. "The Chimp" is a bit longer than the usual comedy short, clocking in at 25 minutes. It is a joy though.

This is my all-time favorite L&H episode! Ollie and James Finlayson are my favorites. But what I don't like about this is Stan Laurel. He acts too whiny and emotional and for a comic genius he takes his role as a childishly innocent man way too far!

A brief synopsis: Stan and Ollie get laid off from the circus in which they were working, Stan gets a flea circus and Ollie gets a chimp named Ethyl. Along the way they encounter a frustrated landlord whose wife shares the same name as the chimp, and a lion on the loose.

The funniest part was when Ollie asked why Stan was so scared and Stan screamed, "I saw MGM"! When I heard that I laughed myself sick and almost fell off my chair! James Finlayson's role as the ringmaster in this was exceptionally awesome as was his other roles in L&H movies and episodes.

So, if any of you are L&H fans, please check this one out!

Sorry to see that Bob The Moo found this to be one of the weaker L&H shorts . By no means a classic compared to something like MURDER CASE it is very amusing . I guess if Bob saw this before watching THEIR FIRST MISTAKE we might have found this the superior short ?

If THE CHIMP has a problem it's down to the internal logic and coincidence involved . For example if a circus went bust wouldn't the owner sell the animals to a zoo rather than give them away free to his now unemployed staff ? it's also strange that a lion can roam around an American city all day without someone calling the police , and what's the chances of a chimp arriving at a hotel where the landlord's wife has the same name as it ?

Maybe you have to suspend disbelief a couple of times too often but I certainly found it very funny and well paced

While not their best short, Laurel and Hardy provide some amusement in "The Chimp." Charles Gemora played Ethel, not a chimp, but a gorilla actually, as he did in several other films, such as "Murders in the Rue Morgue," "Swiss Miss," and "At the Circus." One reviewer writes that he "looks like a guy in a cheap ape costume and I HATE when movies put people in crappy ape costumes." Ironically, I am writing this the day after this country has yet another mass shooting in which 19 children and two teachers were killed. This reviewer used the word "hate" often in his reviews and it is terrible. Don't we have enough hate in this country without his need to use it repeatedly?

This is not amongst my favourites of the many Laurel and Hardy shorts I have seen, but it was a perfectly passable short subject.

James Finlayson as ever is a boon of a presence; making a brilliant foil to the pair. Laurel and Hardy are as wonderful as ever, though possibly a slight weariness is evident; the antics here being so very similar to many other of their shorts. What especially enervates this film are the early, possibly all too brief, sequences in the circus; to see, largely in atmospheric long shot, the great duo comically spoiling the planned circus gags, only to create new ones in their bungling, is a wonderful spectacle. The spatial atmosphere given by a visible audience - though amusingly small - is quite a refreshing dichotomy; the performance-within-a-performance air of this section is beautiful to watch.

Yes, things slip towards far more laboured chimp-related gags, but this is professional stuff; Laurel and Hardy executing the comedy finely. It does tend towards going through the motions, but, cripes, this is the funniest and most loved double act of all, on screen for our benefit. And thus, it's a film more laudable than so many.

Rating:- *** 1/2/*****