Another Fine Mess

Seeing Stan Laurel as Agnes the maid in this film is absolutely fantastic. I especially love his girlie chat with Mrs Plumtree on the sofa. This particular scene of the film illustrates Stan's adaptability to talkie films, and to situation comedy, where there is less of the usual slapstick.

I guess the use of more dialogue over slapstick in Another Fine Mess is due to the fact that it was thought that such comedy genre would be less funny, and therefore irrelevant to talkie films. Seeing Stan and Ollie with more dialogue to perform takes allot of getting used to. However, I think the duo pulled it off in this film Very good viewing!

L & H are on the run from the law. They are so broke they spent the night sleeping on a park bench. A nearby was not impressed with Stan after he addresses him as 'Ma'am'. They take refuge from the chase in the basement of Colonel Wilburforce Buckshot, who has just left to go on vacation to South Africa.

While hiding they pretend to be the owner and maid (Stan in his guise as Agnes) of the house when a new married couple (Lord Plumtree and his gorgeous wife) come around to rent the place. Obviously the usual hijinks and misunderstandings follow but the comic timing and Stan's indulgence in his Agnes disguise make it a half-hour laugh riot.

Having just watched Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy work in a mansion in the silent short From Soup to Nuts, here they are again at another such place in the talkie short Another Fine Mess. This time, they're on the run from the police for sleeping on park benches and they end up in the cellar of the residence of one Colonel Buckshot (James Finlayson) who's leaving on vacation. When they find out that the butler and maid are also taking time off, and with a cop still on the lookout for them, Stan poses as both butler and maid and Ollie poses as the Colonel as a young society couple arrives to rent the place. The lady of that couple is played by Thelma Todd who'd appear in quite a few of the L & H shorts and eventually star in her own Hal Roach series with first Zasu Pitts and then Patsy Kelly. She's quite charming when she converses with Stan's portrayal of maid "Agnes"! Hardy as Buckshot also gets his charms when playing him when conversing with the man of the renting couple who has quite a funny laugh which gets quite a workout here, that's for sure! As for Finlayson, well, he only has the beginning and near the end scenes to appear but he does what he can in those scenes and make them count! All in all, Another Fine Mess was quite a funny L & H short. P. S. The twin ladies who recite the credits at the beginning are Beverly and Betty Mae Crane who served the same function during this period on all Hal Roach shorts like the Our Gang entries Teacher's Pet, School's Out, and Love Business which I've also reviewed on this site. So as we leave Stan & Ollie behind, we next will visit Bud Abbott & Lou Costello when they also come In Society.

Circumstances of poverty force Laurel and Hardy to take refuge from the police in James Finlayson's mansion. But it might be a stroke of luck as Finlayson is about to depart for Africa to shoot big game. He gives instructions to the butler and maid to rent the place for six months, but they leave themselves on a short getaway.

Which gives Ollie the idea to masquerade as Finlayson and rent the place himself. Stan masquerades as the butler.

But when the boys meet with Charles Gerrard and his lovely bride Thelma Todd who knows a maid comes with the package, Stan has to get into drag and quick change drag at that to be both butler and maid. That provides for a series of incredibly funny situations.

Of course it's all a big bust for Stan and Ollie, but you have to see one of their funniest short subjects to see how it all goes bad.

...but the previous 25 are only mildly amusing by comparison. So this is a tough one to rate.

Plot In a Nutshell: Two drifters (Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy) avoid a determined beat cop by taking refuge in an empty mansion, where they assume the identities of the owner and servants.

Why I rated it a '7': as mentioned, the film really picks up steam as it comes to a conclusion, and it includes a scene where Stan and Ollie are bicycling down a street while disguised as an African wildebeest. I can't help but compare this to the ending of the original "Pink Panther" with David Niven and Robert Wagner driving around Paris in gorilla costumes. You have to think Blake Edwards drew some inspiration from Laurel and Hardy here!

There are some laughs sprinkled throughout the 30 minute film but it is not non-stop hilarity until the last few minutes. No one remembering Lord Plumtree's name and Stan's comment about needing a nursery room "in case of an accident" were highlights, but Lord Plumtree's strange laugh was annoying and is an example of one bit that didn't work.

Overall, an enjoyable 30 minutes. Not their best and not their worst. B+.

7/10. Would I watch again (Y/N)?: Yes