Tit for Tat

Tit for Tat concerns Laurel and Hardy as entrepreneurs, opening an electrical goods store in a strip mall next door to another shop owner (Charlie Hall), who is weary of their behavior after seeing Hardy with his wife (Mae Busch). In response, the shop owner triggers a fight with them by breaking items in their store, which prompts Laurel and Hardy to conduct "eye-for-an-eye" treatment on the man by destroying his shop, a small little grocery outlet. In the mix of senseless fighting, a shoplifter (Bobby Dunn) repeatedly enters Laurel and Hardy's shop, taking more and more items each time, rendering the entire situation increasingly maddening for all parties.

While Tit for Tat is a sequel to the Laurel and Hardy short Them Thar Hills (unseen by me), it almost plays like a remake of Big Business (from 1929) in style, where Laurel and Hardy were feuding with the next door neighbor, taking turns demolishing each other's homes. While I have been critical of the more slapstick-infused shorts of Laurel and Hardy, these types of "eye for an eye" shorts work largely because they are competitions between the characters for how far they want to take their situational humor. In addition, it's also a pleasure to see how wise the characters can be under the circumstances of revenge while simultaneously remaining so dumb and foolish throughout the entire time. There's a great amount of pleasure that comes in watching Laurel and Hardy compete for superiority when the prize is nothing more than another crack in their fragile dignity.

Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charlie Hall, Mae Busch, and Bobby Dunn. Directed by: Charles Rogers.

Stan and Ollie have gone into business with an electrical appliance store and it just happens to be located next to the grocery store of Mae Busch and Charley Hall. As fate would have it they've got a history with Mae and Charley going back to a previous short subject Them Thar Hills.

Charley's of a suspicious nature, no doubt aggravated by seeing Ollie coming down the stairs of his apartment above the store and saying goodbye to Mae. There is an innocent explanation for it all, in fact it was caused by Stan, I won't say how.

This gets Hall's back up and they start a war of pranks for the rest of the 19 minute short subject. Which are a series of slapstick gags the boys pull on Charley and he keeps retaliating. It escalates pretty good and they come, not fast and furious, but kind of slow cooked the better to savor.

Though Tit for Tat probably should be seen back to back with Them Thar Hills, it's a good enough short subject to stand on its own. Why would it have gotten an Academy Award nomination if it wasn't?

For fans of Laurel and Hardy, this is a classic short. Others might be less impressed by this war of destruction between the pair and their next-door neighbor, Charlie Hall. It's all based on childish insults that cross the line when they start tearing up each other's stores.

It's simple and direct physical comedy in the best tradition of L&H and their slapstick brand of comedy. A running gag has someone pilfering their store whenever they go next-door to wreck havoc on their neighbor. Naturally, they never notice a thing, even when he loads all their wares in a truck by the curb.

Mae Busch is the wife about whom Charlie Hall becomes jealous. When Oliver gets tossed onto their window ledge by one of Laurel's gaffes, he's helped inside the woman's bedroom by the woman herself. Coming down the stairs, he utters a line that clearly got by the censors: "I've never been in that position before!" Any wonder the husband goes into a jealous rage? Funny stuff, tailor-made and simple story that provides plenty of slapstick moments you won't forget.

This movie perfectly shows the reasons why I like Laurel & Hardy pictures so much. It has got a great silly story, well timing and some great comical moments, all perfectly executed by the characters.

The story is very, very simple but it works oh so well and is oh so strong. Basically the movie is about Stan and Olie, who just opened an electrical repair store, having a small war with their neighbor the grocer. Basically the movie is about the two parties taking constantly revenge on the other, in a comical hilarious way. This movie is a direct (and the only) sequel to a previous Laurel & Hardy movie, namely; "Them Thar Hills".

The returning joke of the costumer who robs the store every time Laurel & Hardy went away is absolutely hilarious.

The simple story of the movie is extremely well executed and makes this movie one of the most enjoyable Laurel & Hardy shorts.

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This is certainly one of the best L & H shorts because unlike most of the others there`s little in the way of an episodic feel and it has a continuity with THEM THAR HILLS . What makes memorable to me is the innuendo involved when Ollie comes down the stairs with the grocer`s wife and laughs " I`ve never been in a position like that before " I was totally shocked , Oliver Hardy comes out of a bedroom , down a flight of stairs and exclaims " I`ve never been in a position like that before " Of course there`s an innocent explanation for all this but it`s unbelievable the censors allowed this type of innuendo to be used in 1935 . I would have loved to have seen this at a cinema when it was first released just so I could see if anyone picked up on the ambiguity of Oliver`s statement