You're Darn Tootin'

More of a collection of loosely linked sketches than a plot, You're Darn Tootin' builds to a crescendo which finds a dozen men doing battle in the street without their trousers.

This is the story of two musicians who played neither by note no ear, instead they used brute strength. On the night in question the orchestra leader was making his farewell appearance – something the public had been demanding for years. Fired for messing this up the pair find themselves out of their house as well as they are already 14 weeks late with the rent. On the city streets with only their instruments the pair find it hard going earning money.

Shown as part of BBC3's generally good documentary series on silent comedy legends "Silent Clowns", this Laurel and Hardy short is one of the very few silent films of theirs I have seen. I do love their "talky" short films and looked forward to this. It took a minute or two to get used to the lack of audible jokes and the short does demonstrate that this was something they wanted, because the title cards are mostly funny and not solely used to describe plot. Naturally though the vast majority of this is physical comedy, which for fans will be just fine because they still deliver this really well.

It is impressive how the pair do so much with very basic routines and obvious gags. The opening orchestra scene is funny and, after a bridge scene, the streets produce some good laughs leading up to the famous sidewalk chaos bit. Newcomers might not see what the fuss is about (this is always the risk – some viewers just watch L&H and think "all been done before", missing the point that no, it has all been done since) but fans will take to it despite the lack of sound. As always Laurel and Hardy work really well together, trading laughs off one another and delivering their parts equally well. Kennedy's directorial approach is wisely to pretty much just point and shoot.

Overall an enjoyable and funny silent short that Laurel and Hardy fans will lap up even if, like me, those accustom to sound will feel its absence.

This amusing, clever short feature is a pretty good example of the way that Laurel & Hardy, at their best, could get a lot of mileage out of a few simple ideas. While many of the gags have been done before, frequently by Stan and Ollie themselves, the material works and provides good laughs thanks to their expert timing, funny mannerisms, and creative use of props. The wild sidewalk fracas is probably the best-remembered part of "You're Darn Tootin'", but perhaps the wittiest sequence is the opening scene on the bandstand, which packs quite a few laughs into a short time. Any Laurel & Hardy fan should enjoy this one.

You're Darn Tootin' has Laurel and Hardy as members of a municipal band, known for causing the conductor ample amounts of grief with their incompetence and clueless way of going about things. After their antics cause them to be kicked out of the band, they come home to realize their landlady has evicted them because of their lack of employment. The men try their luck at being street musicians, scraping by by the courtesy dimes and nickles people throw into the cups adjacent to them, but to little avail, as the two consistently argue and even engage in arguments with innocent passersby.

Noted Laurel and Hardy scholar Randy Skretvedt notes You're Darn Tootin' not so much as a comedy but as a painfully honest display of friendship and helplessness. Even when Laurel and Hardy are without a job, a home, and knowledge of where there next meal will come from, they cling to each other, and even if they fight and bicker with one another, one pretty quickly realizes these two couldn't live without one another by their side. It's an paradoxical friendship that has stood the test of time and cinema, but Laurel and Hardy deserved to be bound together for eternity, through all the needless slap-fighting and goofball situations.

You're Darn Tootin' is less a comedy short and more a nimble exploration at the kind of paradoxical friendship these two characters embody. While, of course, being humorous and delightfully unpredictable, Laurel and Hardy's relationship has pals is explored in a richer sense and, with that, we get a short that embodies really what it's like to have that one friend that you can't live with but can't live without.

Starring: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Directed by: Edgar Kennedy.

Although I certainly don't consider this movie to be Laurel & Hardy's best, it still is of course a very amusing short, that features plenty of good slapstick moments.

The movie is a bit dragging at times with its gags but overall the movie has plenty of moments in that will surely make you laugh. Especially the ending is purely classic. The slapstick comedy is very typically Laurel & Hardy like, so fans of the two will surely enjoy watching this comedy short.

Like often was the case with Laurel & Hardy, the movie can be divided into two parts. The first halve is about the comedy duo playing in a municipal band, while the second halve is about the two coping with the fact that they are fired from the band by trying to earn some money on the street by playing. Both parts have their up- and downsides but overall the upsides overcome its lesser parts.

The movie got directed by Edgar Kennedy, who also directed the other Laurel & Hardy silent short "From Soup To Nuts". Kennedy is still best known though as an actor playing in several Laurel & Hardy movies, most often as the cop Kennedy.

Amusing, especially for the fans.

7/10

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