Wrong Again

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were comedic geniuses, individually and together, and their partnership was deservedly iconic and one of the best there was. They left behind a large body of work, a vast majority of it being entertaining to classic comedy, at their best they were hilarious and their best efforts were great examples of how to do comedy without being juvenile or distasteful.

Although a vast majority of Laurel and Hardy's previous efforts ranged from above average to very good ('45 Minutes from Hollywood' being the only misfire and mainly worth seeing as a curiosity piece and for historical interest, and even that wasn't a complete mess), Along with 'Two Tars' and 'Liberty', 'Wrong Again' is the best and funniest Laurel and Hardy short film up to this point of their output, one of their best from their overall early work and very nearly one of my personal favourites of theirs. Their filmography, apart from a few bumps along the way, was getting better and better and 'Wrong Again' exemplifies this.

A couple of awkward moments to begin with, but hardly anything to criticise here.

Once again, 'Wrong Again' is non-stop funniness all the way, its best part being the riotous ending. There is insane craziness that doesn't get too silly, a wackiness that never loses its energy, an appealing semi-surreal bizarreness that is a large part of 'Wrong Again's' memorability and the sly wit emerges here, some of the material may not be new but how it's executed actually feels fresh and it doesn't get repetitive.

Laurel and Hardy are on top form here, both are well used, both have material worthy of them and they're equal rather than one being funnier than the other (before Laurel tended to be funnier and more interesting than Hardy, who tended to be underused). Their chemistry feels like a partnership here too, before you were yearning for more scenes with them together but in 'Wrong Again' we are far from robbed of that.

'Wrong Again' looks good visually, is full of energy and the direction gets the best out of the stars, is at ease with the material and doesn't let it get too busy or static. The supporting players are solid.

Concluding, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Just watched this Laurel & Hardy comedy on YouTube with Italian intertitles. Good thing I was a little familiar with the story of this one from reading Randy Skretvedt's book "Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies" which has reviews of every one of their films (though the one for the lost Hats Off had to rely on what critics at the time said about it). In this one, Stan and Ollie are stablemates at a horses ranch of which one of them is named Blue Boy. Meanwhile, police have arrested the thieves of the Blue Boy painting and are bringing it back to the rightful home. So when the boys overhear someone discussing the burglary, they decide to "return" the horse there as well. I'll stop there and just say how hilarious the short increasingly becomes when the two come in the mansion what with a female statue, a turn of the wrist to indicate how different some people are, where the owner wants Blue Boy to be put on, Stan's hat, and a piano leg. So if you're reading this and is curious about what happens, what are you waiting for? Go see Wrong Again. P.S. Director Leo McCarey got the inspiration for this short when he went to the dentist and saw the painting on the wall there.

American director Leo McCarey is known for his comedy films. "Wrong Again" is one of his famous silent comedy films for which he worked with undisputed kings of comedy namely 'Stan Laurel' and 'Oliver Hardy'. This is a film which offers twenty minutes of pure laughter without any boring moments. As in other films with Laurel and Hardy, it takes some time to build an atmosphere for comedy. Before such an atmosphere is created, viewers get to see them as ordinary people like you and I. In the beginning, they are seen as workers in a stable whose task is to take good care of an important horse who is called "Blue Boy". However, once they get hold of something comic, daring, both of them make a point to launch an all out attack using their comical methods. For "Wrong Again", Laurel and Hardy get into trouble as they are unable to decipher the message correctly from a group of people. Apart from these two comedians, there is also a horse who works hard only when he is pushed to do so Lastly, wrong Again is the a kind of film where humans and an animal try to outsmart each other !

Wrong Again was one of the last silent films to feature Laurel & Hardy, made at a time when the Hal Roach Studio was gearing up for 100% sound production, but there's nothing half-hearted or perfunctory about the effort put into this comedy. I feel it stands with the very best shorts the guys ever made: laugh-filled, clever, and unusual. And when we consider the high level of achievement they attained during this same period in such terrific late silents as That's My Wife and Big Business, and in their best early talkies such as Men O' War and Perfect Day, 1929 looks like the team's Golden Year. Wrong Again is perhaps not as well known as some of the others, at least in part because it doesn't readily lend itself to being excerpted; that is, the highlights don't work well when seen as brief clips. The plot is more convoluted than usual, although everything unfolds logically enough, given the misunderstanding at the heart of the story, yet the primary business at hand -- the placement of a horse upon a piano -- makes no sense when viewed out of context. In context however, when Stan and Ollie act in the sincere though erroneous belief that the horse's wealthy owner wants this done, their bizarre activity is oddly touching, surprisingly suspenseful, and genuinely funny.

Blue Boy the horse, by the way, appears calm, dignified, and self-possessed throughout. He earned his paycheck, whatever it was.

In addition to the unusually detailed plotting, Wrong Again relies more heavily on verbal humor via title cards than was typical for the team, but that's not a drawback in this case, for the dialog itself is witty and adds to the fun. The greater amount of verbiage could have been a result of the writers' anticipation of talkies looming ahead. We might wonder how this film would have differed if it had been made somewhat later with sound, but my feeling is that the silent screen was the ideal medium for this kind of 'naturalistic surrealism,' like Keaton's Sherlock Jr., which couldn't have been improved upon with sound, either. Viewing these silent images we relish the extended close-ups, first of Ollie, then of Stan, as they register shock, wonder, confusion, etc., concerning the task at hand. And it's worth mentioning that Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy give first-rate performances here. Some viewers may not think of them as actors at all, but watch how they process each surprising piece of information they pick up along the way: their expressions reveal precisely what they're thinking. Clowns they were, but consummate actors first and foremost.

Two more things I like about Wrong Again: the supporting players are allotted a few gags of their own, and the biggest laughs are saved until the last couple of minutes. This comedy doesn't peter out, it ends on a high note with a perfect "topper." It's such a pleasure to watch real professionals do what they do best, when they were all working at the top of their game!