The Tree in a Test Tube

It's surprising how old Laurel and Hardy look in this wartime propaganda short. They were only a few years past the prime of their career, but they looked like that period was about twenty years behind them.

Made in their lunch hour according to IMDb's trivia section, you can't help thinking they could have probably found more interesting ways of filling their time. The film consists of Pete Smith's voice telling them all about the different things wood is used for. There must have been a reason the US government felt it was important that the country should know about this, but you have to wonder why. Was it so people would be kinder to wood? Or perhaps they wanted people to stop hoarding it. Whatever the reason, the boredom quotient of the subject matter is counter-balanced by Stan and Ollie's presence - they're definitely the best thing about this short.

Regard Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy with great affection. They were very funny, often hilarious, and likeable with interesting distinct personalities that really shone when the material in their work played to their strengths (which it mostly did). They had a distinctive comedic style and their partnership was deservedly iconic. Much of their films, short and feature, were decent to wonderful, and most of their lesser efforts were still watchable to some degree. Misfires were in comparison to the rest of their filmography were not many.

'The Tree in a Test Tube' is one of their misfires. It is not only very bad Laurel and Hardy that in no way does them justice, it is also far from good on its own. As others have noted, the one notable thing about 'The Tree in a Test Tube' is the historical curiosity value. Aside from being a wartime educational short, it is most notable for being Laurel and Hardy's first and only short film in colour. Another reason to see it perhaps is if you are trying to see every Laurel and Hardy film for completest sake, being very fond of them that was my reason. That it was made very quickly and with not much care is obvious.

Will say that there is the odd very mildly amusing moment, though really just in the gesturing, and a couple of facts do educate.

Laurel and Hardy do try their best with severely wanting material and the music rouses.

However, both Laurel and Hardy are poorly served both individually and as a duo. None of what they are given plays to their strengths, like it was forgotten what made them so great, and they both look tired and bored and like they did it for a favour and money. They look very out of place in the war setting and even their chemistry is tired. One can tell visually that 'The Tree in a Test Tube' was made in a rush, with the garish colour not being kind to the duo and the photography indicating that those involved didn't have the proper time and resources to do it.

Next to nothing is funny here in a short where attempts at humour are far too few, apart from the odd gesturing, as said what made Laurel and Hardy so great seems to have been forgotten about and it is every bit as tired as the duo themselves. Not much is interesting, with things getting dull too early, and very little is educational, was only illuminated a few times while everything left me unsurprised and not very interested. It is also very heavy-handed, a common trap for war-time shorts, and the narration is both unnecessary and patronising.

Concluding, lacklustre at best and a deeply disappointing misfire. 4/10 Bethany Cox

This bland historical curio is, as others have also pointed out, really only of any interest at all because it is the only color movie made by the great comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The movie itself, though, is hardly worthy of their talents. Even though it only runs for about five minutes, it quickly becomes boring, and it could have made all its points in a fraction of the time.

Most of the movie consists of Stan and Ollie being prompted by a narrator as he points out the many familiar articles that include wood or other tree products, beyond the ones that are obvious. The script gives the two comedians almost no opportunities to do anything. Aside from a couple of relatively amusing gestures and expressions, there's only dead time.

The subject surely has some interesting points somewhere, and it's hard to believe that they couldn't have written a much better script if they had tried harder. Laurel and Hardy could make almost anything entertaining, given the chance. But unfortunately they really don't get a chance here, and as a result this movie really has no strengths.

WE HAD LONG ago screened this little curio of a hybrid one reeler. We say that it is a little film that owed its lineage to several different genetic sources. Our view is also shaped by its parents; being Mother Nature & Father Time.

PERHAPS IT IS a fine example of the old saying: "Too many Cooks spoil the Broth." The very blending of the varying talents and styles of Laurel & Hardy with the very dry and self-deprecation of Pete Smith's narration's being blended with the industrial & patriotic message that was the crux of the movie.

ADDED TO THIS curious blend is the uninspired use of color and the static camera's eye with the very plain backdrop of a parked auto in the 20th Century-Fox Studio's parking lot. Although the action is very brief, it soon wears thin and really drags. That the action is worked out from the thinnest of a premise.

ALTHOUGH THAT WAS the method that was most successful in bringing the World the best of the now Classic L & H silent and sound shorts; as well as being a chief ingredient in their Hal Roach features, this was not the 1920's or '30's and the team was now caught up in the studio contract system. This was a definite bane to that genre of comedies.

AS FAR AS any suspicion that the team did this for any financial remuneration seems to be specious at best. We must remember that it was World War II that was raging and affected everything. This was most likely a product of a donation of time and services from L & H, Pete Smith, 20th Century-Fox and MGM to the War effort, much in the same way that the JERRY LEWIS LABOR DAY TELETHON supported the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

Other than the presence of Laurel&Hardy in it, The Tree In A Test Tube would pass into oblivion that most educational films do. The film is one of the Pete Smith specialties that MGM used to turn out by the dozen, some with humor others that attempted it, but didn't succeed.

This is one of them as MGM and Pete Smith thought that the mere presence of Laurel&Hardy would hold the audiences attention as the audience listened to a litany of the many uses that wood has in our daily lives.

Maybe if Stan&Ollie did some of their shtick during the short it might be better remembered. As it is it's for Stan&Ollie completists only.