The Tree in a Test Tube

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.

While I had seen the Laurel and Hardy segment of this educational short in various bargain basement VHS tapes and some of the Lee Vickers serious stuff in a bargain basement DVD, it's not until now when I played the Fox DVD of A-Haunting We Will Go that I watched the entire thing as it appeared in various classrooms and corporate meetings. The print hardly seemed an improvement on the other tapes or disc but I guess Fox did the best they could find. I found myself smiling a bit at some of the doings of the boys as they show beginning narrator Pete Smith all the various wood products they have on themselves but the results were hardly hilarious. Still, it was a nice rare look at Stan and Ollie in color. After their bit, Vickers shows us how important wood is for the war effort as this film ends with the patriotic music playing with the American flag flying on screen. All in all, an interesting curio for any fan of L & H.

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.

Laurel and Hardy's short film "The Tree in a Test Tube" is a five-minute, partially-complete video from the U.S. Department of Agriculture concerning the ubiquity of products made or manufactured from wood or wood byproducts in the American economy at the time (1942, right near the end of World War II). The short focuses on Laurel and Hardy, seen in color, their only surviving color project known at this time, who are suddenly stopped by the voice of MGM announcer and producer Pete Smith, who asks the two men if they have any products made from wood on them. The two men shake their heads no in total bemusement, but realize, once Smith gets started on his didactic lesson, that between their wallets, shoes, and hats, they bear numerous products containing wood on them.

"The Tree in the Test Tube" is an interesting short for many reasons, other than being almost a blatant piece of World War II-era propaganda. For starters, as mentioned, it's the only surviving color film starring Laurel and Hardy. Secondly, this was shot on the backlot of Twentieth Century-Fox in November 1941 when Laurel and Hardy were on their lunchbreak. And, finally, this short was due to be lengthier, but the bulk of it was lost and never recovered.

Due to the clearer photography, which also benefits from color, we can see Laurel and Hardy begin to show their age in the short as well, with more wrinkles to their faces and the occasional mugs of sheer exhaustion on their faces. Nonetheless, they were troopers to commit themselves to this particular side project on their lunchbreak, and I have a feeling if they were alive today, they'd have to do a video showing how many of the products we use on a daily basis contain corn on the backlot of Warner Bros., just to even the score. This short is a curious piece of film and Laurel and Hardy history and should be viewed and judged on that more than the quality of the film and its overall story/goal.

Starring: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Directed by: Charles McDonald.

This is your only chance to see The Boys in full color. Reportedly shot on their lunch break, it IS a weak entry, a film in which Stan and Ollie do nothing more than open their luggage and respond to Pete Smith's jackass narration about how many of their toiletries bow to the timber industry.

Taken as a film of its time, this is no embarrassment to Stan and Ollie. As the only film they ever made in color, it becomes an odd little collector's item, which is really where its only interest lies. Completest should have this in their collection, but fans who only want to see a Laurel & Hardy comedy should probably pass this up.