Any Old Port!

This has a bit of the Way Out West feel as the boys attempt to save a girl from a forced marriage to a horrible hotel owner (Walter Long). The antics of trying to get her away from him are quite good. However, the main event is a boxing match where Stan and Ollie try to earn some money betting on a boxing match. Oliver is scheduled to box but soon tricks Stan into going against the very same Long. Why long felt he needed to load up his boxing glove to stop the 120 pound Stanley is questionable, but it will work against him for sure. Laurel and Hardy never, ever come out on top so we know that the situation, while hilarious, is going to be less than successful. Once again, it is worth watching to see these two guys.

If you watch enough movies you can start to make interesting comparisons. One fruitful kind is when a series or sequel sequence is done by a different creative team. Same general idea but completely different movies.

There are other comparisons, but the one that is cogent to this movie is the joke boxing match. Every comic did one, including Chaplin and Keaton. Oh but how different they are! Not until "Raging Bull" and "Rocky" would the camera enter the ring, but watch how Stan draws us in. With Chaplin's tramp we were supposed to be impressed with the comic ballet of the thing, but here the comedy is more personal, and we relate personally.

The notion of noir in film is much discussed, and mostly with error. The core of noir is not in jaggy sets or dark lighting (they are mere cinematic indicators) but in the notion of an average Joe getting caught up in a capricious fate that toys with him.

Credit Hardy with laying the groundwork, at least on the character side.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

This is another nice Laurel & Hardy comedy short, in black and white with sound. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy want a room in a hotel. In that hotel a young woman (Julie Bishop, but credited as Jacqueline Wells) who is working there is forced to marry the hotel manager (Walter Long). Of course Stan & Ollie makes sure this will not happen. Later that day, when the two heroes need some money, Ollie arranges a boxing match to earn some. He wants Laurel to fight and the opponent happens to be the hotel manager.

This comedy short has some great moments. Especially the boxing match is terrific. The first half is a little slower than other Laurel & Hardy movies, but gives us some laughs anyway.

Big, ole tough hombre Walter Long, a staple in 1930s crime films and comedies, is right at home with the boys. He owns a run-down hotel and is bullying a helpless girl (played by young Julie Bishop) --that is until Stan and Ollie stop by. Fortunately, the girl escapes, but Mugsy doesn't forget!

Best part is all the wild stuff that happens in between; Mugsy getting his head caught in a table and the local justice of the peace getting the back of his head shaved by a fan? No question, lots of this material was later imitated by the THREE STOOGES.

In a real goofy change of luck, Ollie meets up with an old pal who offers him fifty bucks to go four rounds with a boxer --just for kicks? Of course, Ollie agrees because Stan is going to fight the thug. And surprise! The boxer turns out to be Mugsy.

10 Stars.

Laugh out loud comedy, one of the best and original of their film shorts. Stan Laurel works his magic, lots of fun in the ring and don't miss the boxing glove loaded with some "heavy" stuff. One of the few Laurel and Hardy shorts with the largest number of extra and bit actors, appearing in the boxing arena.

Best line from Ollie; "I bet on you to lose, and you double crossed me!"

A comedy to treasure, written by comedian and gag writer Charley Chase, brother of director James Parrott. Actress Julie Bishop was actually a child star in the 1920s, later returning to films in the 1930s and appearing with Laurel and Hardy and WC Fields in adult roles.

Get the remastered dvd box set of Laurel and Hardy short films for this one. Thanks much to METV Plus for running L & H all the time, also MOVIES Net on Saturday mornings.

Laurel and Hardy are a couple of sailors in port. They go to get a room, only to discover that Julie Bishop -- still acting under the name of Jacqueline Wells -- is being forced to marry Walter Long. Later, they need to raise some money, so Oliver volunteers..... for Stan to fight Long in the ring.

Laurel and Hardy's production unit was quite capable of producing scenes of active terror, and then immediately turning the situation around into laughter. Here's an example of that.

Miss Wells had entered the movies in 1923 as a child actress. She assumed the name of Bishop when she signed a contract with Warner Brothers in the early 1940s. She appeared in the last of her eighty features in 1957, and died in 2001, age 87.