Two Tars

This Laurel and Hardy silent short might seem very familiar to Laurel and Hardy fans even if you've never seen the film before. That's because it uses a formula that worked well in many of their shorts. Basically, Stan and Ollie are trying to act tough (this time spurred on by two cute ladies) and after a small altercation develops, the two take the "tit for tat" notion to amazing heights. In this case, a tiny fender bender results in car destruction on a massive and hilarious scale. A few Laurel and Hardy films that have used similar plot construction are the great BIG BUSINESS, BATTLE OF THE CENTURY, TIT FOR TAT and the final portion of MEN O'WAR (which, incidentally ALSO has them playing sailors on shore leave).

So, if the formula is so familiar, why bother watching TWO TARS? Well, like the other films listed (and others), TWO TARS is just plain funny. Period. While the first 75% of the film is mildly funny, seeing the end results of all the destruction. The many, many sight gags are very reminiscent of the Keystone comedies and must have, for the time, cost a lot of money.

Now there is a problem with viewing this film, however. There are no DVD sets of the existing prints of all the Laurel and Hardy films. There was a videotape set produced many years ago, but it's out of print. As a result, I know of no place where you can now view this rare Laurel and Hardy film except online. Under Google Video, there's an old Blackhawk films print (probably taken from an 8 or 16mm home movie) but there is no incidental music--just silence. But, even given these limitations, it's still well worth finding and watching. Not the best Laurel and Hardy film, it IS among the better ones this fine team produced.

FYI--This short is currently playing at the Museum of Modern Art in New York with organ accompaniment. I have no idea how much longer this will be, but it's sure worth seeing--even if much of the art in the museum is too sophisticated for 99% of the public.

Laurel & Hardy are once again sailors in this silent short from the early days of their partnership. The relationship between them is pretty much fully-formed by now, and the tit-for-tat format of their rucks with those who displease them (or whom, more often, they displease) is already established. On shore leave, they rent a car and go off in search of girls. They find a likely pair attempting to retrieve sweets from a sidewalk dispenser, and despite inevitably scattering the sweets all over the street, the boys somehow manage to entice the ladies into their car.

It's not long before they find themselves at loggerheads with other drivers as they find themselves stuck in a traffic jam, and soon cars are being systematically destroyed as tempers fray. The film is pretty good and there's quite a few laughs scattered throughout.

Part of the beauty of this perfectly paced classic comedy is not just it's gradual compounding of incident but how resonant it's plotting is today. Who likes traffic jams? Nobody! Stan and Ollie seem almost prescient to have tapped into a vexation that plagues us even now; maybe more than ever on today's superhighways that still cannot accommodate the flow of modern commuting. It is not so much the individual performances that matter here, but the over-all building of pace and piling on of incident. I think of this film every time I'm tangled in bad traffic; so will you, but please resist the temptation to rip the fender off of the car alongside you -- it may be mine.

When I was young my stepfather borrowed - for quite some time - this old movie-projector and some old short-reels that we used to watch on a white wall in his radio-shack (later I learned he borrowed it, not to entertain the kids but to watch old pornographic movies, but that's another story).

My favorite memory from this was "Two Tars", a 21-minute short with Laurel and Hardy, and ever since it has been my all-time-favorite comedy short. I will not dwell on the reason for this, only tell those who haven't seen it that it contains what has to be the wackiest traffic-jam in the history of movies! Every time I come across it on TV it just cracks me up how a small quarrel ends with the motorists literally TEARING their cars apart! It has to be one of most brilliant examples of crazy-comedy put together, masterfully staged by it's director James Parrott.

Not surprisingly, Leo McCarey who originated the story for "Two Tars", five years later directed the mother of all crazy-comedies: the Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup".

A must see!

When I first watched this at the East Baton Rouge Parish Library about 30 years ago, I remember being a bit disappointed since there was no dialogue or sound effects, this being my first exposure to a silent film in its entirety not to mention that of Laurel & Hardy without their voices. I liked it much better when I bought the VHS tape during the '90s and having now rewatched it on Hulu as linked from IMDb, I now think this is one of their near-best ever! Everything from Stan's first accident when driving to Ollie's when he takes the wheel to a bubble gum machine incident involving L & H regular Charlie Hall to that chaotic traffic jam, it's just one hilarious visual gag after another! Besides Hall, other funny supporting turns come from Thomas Benton Roberts, a prop man at Hal Roach Studios, as a man with the tomatoes, Edgar Dearing as the motorcycle cop attempting to arrest the boys, and especially Ruby Blaine as the blonde half of the girls Stan and Ollie pick up for dates who really gives it to Hall and later sprays oil on another female passerby. Ms. Blaine was reportedly a professional wrestler then appearing in near Pasadena. Thelma Hill plays the other brunette half. If you're interested in the behind-the-scenes info on this particular short, I highly recommend Randy Skretvedt's book "Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies" on which he reviews all their films (though since one of them-Hats Off-is completely lost for now, he can only mention what reviews at the time said of that). So on that note, Two Tars is highly recommended.