Männer im Schornstein

I have seen Dirty Work several times and is probably my favourite Stan and Ollie short.

In this one, Stan and Ollie are chimney sweeps and get the job to clean the chimney at the home of Professor Noodle (Lucien Littlefield). While Noodle is doing mad experiments in his lab, Stan and Ollie cause much chaos trying to clean the chimney and make a mess of the living room. The end is where Ollie falls into a tank of special formula that Noodle uses for his experiments and this turns him into a chimp! The best part is where Ollie falls down the chimney and loads of bricks land on his head, but he doesn't seem to suffer much pain from this.

Dirty Work is Stan and Ollie at their funniest. Great fun.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5.

Laurel and Hardy are chimney sweeps. They come to the house of research scientist Professor Noodle and set about ineptly trying to sweep his chimney – causing more damage than doing work. Meanwhile the slightly unhinged Noodle carries out tests on a potion that reverses the ageing process.

I'm slowing becoming a big fan of Laurel & Hardy. This is about the tenth short film of theirs that I have seen in the past month and I have enjoyed them all with only a few minor reservations. This is no exception. The simple set up give way to the jokes you expect and no real surprises, in fact at least two of the gags are so signposted you see them miles away. It's a credit to their delivery that it's all still very funny!

Both Oliver and Stan have great skills – whether it's Ollie's looks to camera or Stan's whimpering, all delivery is hilarious and average jokes are hilarious in their hands. The side plot of the potion is intrusive a little because we keep leaving the cleaning process to watch Noodle mix the potion but it does build to a funny climax so it is pretty much worth it.

Overall, fans of this wonderful duo will be pleased with this short as it is just what you expect from them – good routines, funny jokes and great delivery.

No, this isn't the 1998 comedy feature directed by Bob Saget. It's another of the classic Laurel & Hardy shorts, in which they play chimney sweeps who go to do a job at a mad scientist's place. From that description, you can be sure it won't turn out well; I said "Laurel & Hardy", didn't I? With Ollie on the roof and Stan in the living room, the only one who's going to come out well when Lucien Littlefield tries out his rejuvenation potion, is the chimpanzee.

Hardy does look good covered in soot. It hides his bald spot.

Here we go again. New job. Chimney sweeps at the home of a nutty scientist. The guy is working on a kind of fountain of youth substance and Laurel and Hardy are called in to clean the chimney. Of course, not only do they not do their jobs, they dismantle the place they are working on. So what else is new? Nothing, other than the incredible ways they find to wreak havoc on the world. This has one of my favorite bits that they used in other films as well. As the chimney collapses, Ollie sits on the hearth as one brick after another falls on his head. Just when you think the last brick has fallen, another one bonks him. These guys were the absolute best.

This Laurel & Hardy short comedy features two subplots that come together towards the end. Stan and Ollie are chimney sweeps, working at the home of a mad professor. As the professor is busy trying to perfect his latest wacky formula, the boys are raising havoc with their attempts to clean out his chimney. The subplot about the professor's secret formula is only mildly amusing at most, and is really there only to set up one gag at the end. But the chimney sweep scenes are another very funny instance of how many laughs that Laurel and Hardy could get out of one simple situation. They use the props and setting with their usual creativity. Overall, this is quite entertaining.