The Live Ghost

A LAUREL & HARDY Comedy Short. After helping a conniving captain kidnap seamen for his ship, Stan & Ollie end up shanghaied themselves. The trouble really starts, however, when the Boys accidentally `kill' one of their cabin mates. Dumping the body overboard, they are terrified to see THE LIVE GHOST stalking the decks.

Lots of laughs in this little film. Watching the Boys' reactions when they see the `ghost' is hilarious. That's Mae Busch as the captain's girlfriend.

No one wants to ship on skipper Walter Long's ship. They all say it's haunted, and he gets violent whenever anyone repeats that. He pays Laurel and Hardy a dollar a head for helping him shanghai hands.... and then shanghais them. Add in Mae Busch as a waterfront floozie and you've got a good comedy.

Walter Long was the actor for the Boys whenever they wanted a real tough. He seems to have priced himself out of their market soon after this. A veteran of more than 200 features and shorts from 1910, he died on Independence Day in 1952 at the age of 73.

Stan and Ollie, in their usually unemployed and semi-destitute state, are hired by a ship's captain (the frightening Walter Long) to shanghai sailors because no one wants to sail with him (they say he has a ghost ship). Unfortunately for them, they are knocked unconscious and end up with a crew that despises them. On board the ship is a drunk, played by Arthur Housman, who falls in a bucket of whitewash and is mistaken for a dead man. Stan and Ollie throw him overboard but he quickly makes it back on board. Of course, he is immediately mistaken for a ghost and Long is furious. The guys are under his protection, but all bets are suddenly off because he has no more use for them. Mae Busch is soon present as a doxie and a merry chase begins. Just another fine comedy from the amazing twosome.

With today being Halloween, I thought I'd celebrate the day by watching some comedy teams' films that deal with various scary things. In this one, Stan & Ollie are offered some money by a ship captain (Walter Long) to shanghai some drunken men to work on his boat. They succeed but also end up on it themselves. Since those men are stuck with them, the boys are protected by the captain. So when Laurel & Hardy decide to stay at each port, the captain orders them to keep an eye on one really drunk sailor (Arthur Housman) from leaving. That's when the fun really begins...It took a while but as the short kept on, I really found myself laughing especially when Stan gets really scared and then Ollie becomes so as well. Housman really piles his standard drunk act to hilarious results. Oh, and a threat from Long results in yet another freak ending Stan usually likes to employ to outrageous effect. So on that note, The Live Ghost gets a high recommendation from me.

This Laurel & Hardy film makes great use of some their best regular supporting actors: Walter Long, Charlie Hall, Mae Busch and Arthur Housman. I don't know whether it gets enough often mentioned, but part of the hilarity of Stan's and Ollie's films are owed to these supporting actors too. For it is them who also become familiar to the viewer and therefore form an essential part of their humour in general. Knowing how tough guy Walter Long always is, you laugh twice as much at him than usual when you see that he does not care a bit when Stan hits his head with a pan. Another familiar laughing "bonus" is got from Charlie Hall's sadism and Housman plays again the drunk. Mae West's domina voice always guarantees you a freezing effect down at your stomach.

The film itself makes moderate use of the concepts laughter and fear. Hijacking crew into haunted ship is funny in itself too, but the Ghost that Stan & Ollie accidentally evoke crowns the whole show. This one definitely belongs into very essential Laurel & Hardy. It is a very pleasant viewing for both master and student.