Towed in a Hole

This film is highly reminiscent of another Laurel and Hardy short, HELP MATES. They both concern this clumsy and dopey duo trying to fix something. In HELP MATES, it was home repair and here it is fixing up an old sailboat. In fact, now that I think about it, it's pretty much the same film all over again with only some minor differences. This, though, is not that bad, as regardless it is still very entertaining and funny. I particularly liked the paintbrush goatee that Ollie is sporting late in the movie after a mishap. And the ending, is pretty much as you'd expect--a total disaster. This is pure Laurel and Hardy and, like their best material, NOT set to music or a contrived plot--just simple stupidness--the way Laurel and Hardy are meant to be seen.

It has a laugh a minute and has some very sophisticated humour. Two fabulous bits stand out - one where Stan is washing the anchor chain and 'wrings' it into a bucket of water. The other is where Stan has been confined to the cabin and plays noughts and crosses with himself. In the finale, there is this wonderful scene where Stan and Ollie watch helplessly as their newly painted boat careers down the road under sail power and smashes into a million pieces. The film does not have too many set pieces but contains loads of small, exquisite gags which will have you doubling up with laughter.

Every single detail and frame of this film is a work of art. With only Laurel and Hardy in the cast, it is the most beautiful 18 minutes you could ever wish to spend watching a movie. Every gag, every nuance, every movement, every moment is timed and placed beautifully. I can only wonder if Stan and Babe had any idea when they were making this masterpiece quite what they were achieving... Is it possible to recognise timeless perfection in the midst of the process without spoiling the result? Whatever, this film could almost bring tears to the eyes it is so charming, so satisfying, so quietly side-splitting, and such a magnificent example of screen comedy at its best. Nothing comes better than this. Ever.

This is probably my all time fav. L&H short. right from the start with the call of 'Fresh Fish' (toot), this is a 'hoot'. As always, Stan has an idea this time expressed as only Stan can. 'If we had a boat .....'. The bit that makes me howl is when Olly is painting the rudder and Stan is scrubbing the deck and finds the tiller in the way. The pause before 'what did you put that stuff on your face for' is agony!. As for Stan's method of getting his head out from behind the mast... See this one now.

THE SELF SUFFICIENCY of the L & H team is presented here in the best example possible. The slow and deliberate method of working a gag to its maximum was very handily put to good use in these shorts. Whereas most all other comedians opted for an array of fast paced comic situations, being rapidly dispatched at sometimes break-neck pace, L & H worked each slowly and deliberately doing their own reactions to whatever. (As a true antithesis to this Hal Roach/Leo Mc Carey style, see some of comedian Larry Semon's silent screen work.)_

ANOTHER SINGULARLY UNIQUE feature of this short subject is that it is all Stan & Ollie. Other than the brief appearance of Billy Gilbert at the beginning, the boys have this one all to themselves. They play out their shtick against the backdrop of their seagoing reclamation project. The now familiar routines of Laurel messing up Hardy's work, Hardy's reaction, stare at the camera and his slow burn are meticulously combined with Laurel's crying to great effect.

ALONG WITH SUCH other titles as ME AND MY PAL. OUR WIFE and THE MUSIC BOX, we have what we like to call "quintessential Laurel & Hardy".

AS IS THE norm, all is lost in the end; bu we know that there will be other moments to come.