Me and My Pal

We have been so used to viewing the boys on Video, that it was a real pleasure last evening to see it on the big screen at a meeting of the L & H Appreciation Society. This film is a real riot with all the gags centered around Ollie's Wedding present from Stan - a jigsaw puzzle.The gags work after almost 70 years because it could have just as well have been a Nitendo Game in one of the modern-day sitcom. If this film is available on Video, and if you are a L & H Fan, I strongly urge you to either rent or purchase a copy.

What kind of present would Stanley buy to Ollie, who will soon get married? He would probably buy something very important, like a jig-saw puzzle. The puzzle would be a great present, because if Ollie is married he and Stan could not go out anymore. They could still try to solve that puzzle. Good thinking, Stan!

In this film not much is happening, because that stupid present takes all interest from everything else. Much fun is then due to that absurd situation and therefore this film should be seen as a warning of the complete waste of time that a jig-saw puzzle induces. Laurel and Hardy have done much better films than this but even this simple story shows how proficient they were. This is still a good film, because they manage to keep it simple and not overdo anything.

Oliver Hardy is due to marry the daughter of Sir Cucumber, a rich oil baron, and hence become an oil magnate himself. His best man, Stan Laurel, brings over a gift before they leave for the wedding ceremony – a big jigsaw puzzle. However the puzzle proves to be fiendishly addictive and the pair are delayed by the attention it draws.

This Laurel & Hardy short starts with an overlong set up (albeit amusingly delivered over the radio) but soon gets down to the central gag – the fact that none of the protagonists can drag themselves away from the jigsaw long enough to do what they have to do. It is funny the first few times but it is less funny as it goes along. Only the idea of an increasing crowd of people gathered around the jigsaw makes it amusing.

The punchline of the whole short is really added at the last minute and I think they must have been stuck for a strong finish and so settled for this. Hardy is good with his usual looks of frustration towards the audience while Laurel is as confused as ever. They work together well. Finlayson is a disappointment as he doesn't do what he is best at (his slow burn double take) although it is interesting to hear him say `d'oh' as he was indeed the inspiration for one Homer Simpson's trademark. The rest of the support cast do little but I always find Finlayson to be excellent value in these shorts so felt a little let down.

Overall this is a simple short that is not the best the pair have done but is amusing none the less. However I must be honest and say that they have done better and funnier.

Ollie is getting ready to Marry the daughter of Oil Magnate Mr Cucumber (Laurel-Hardy regular James Finalyson), When Stan brings over a 200 piece Jigsaw puzzle in which everybody becomes sucked in to play with it,as well as Ollie and Stan there's The Policeman,Telegram messenger and the Cab Driver, Mr Cucumber and his daughter wait impatiently in the Church until he decides to drive over to ollie's house to see what's up, when a Jigsaw piece goes missing and the guys become paranoid about who has taken it resulting in a full scale slapstick fight,So policemen thinking it's a riot become involved and arrest everybody except Stan & Ollie who are hiding in a Sofa and up a chimney, So yet another of Ollie romances ends in disaster

Wonderfully made, funny short comedy with the best comic actors who ever lived

9/10

This isn't one of the better shorts by Laurel and Hardy however it does prove that given practically no plot, the team was able to make even the simplest idea watchable and fun.

When the film begins, you learn that Ollie is about to marry a very wealthy heiress to a huge oil fortune. As he gets ready to go, Stanley drops by and gives Ollie his wedding present--a jigsaw puzzle. Oddly, it's as if the puzzle is possessed, as everyone coming to the house ends up mesmerized by putting it together--even though the wedding should have begun by now. Again and again, people come to the house but end up transfixed. Even the cabbie refuses to take Ollie to the wedding because he is much more interested in assembling the puzzle than making a buck driving Ollie.

There's a tiny bit more to the plot than that--but not much!! As I said, the plot is weak here and it's the barest of ideas--yet it still manages to work. You can't help but laugh as this tiny problem snowballs into a total catastrophe! See it and understand how the team was able to turn practically anything into gold during their heyday.