Scandale à Hollywood

"45 Minutes from Hollywood"

Aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Sound format: Silent

(Black and white - Short film)

A naive country boy (Glenn Tryon) arrives in Hollywood and gets mixed up in robbery and chaos at a posh hotel.

The first pairing of Laurel and Hardy in a Hal Roach comedy short, though neither of them appears in the same scene (Stan's footage has faded badly over the years). Top-billed Tryon does his best with the flimsy scenario, which substitutes frantic farce for genuine wit, as Our Hero is mistaken for a robber dressed in drag (yep, it's THAT kinda movie!) and chased hither and yon by house detective Ollie. The comedy is fast-paced and beautifully timed though not especially memorable, and the film survives as little more than a record of L&H's earliest pairing. Theda Bara and the Hal Roach Bathing Beauties make brief cameo appearances. Directed by Fred Guiol.

A kind of early version of the Beverly Hillbillies, this film stars Glenn Tryon as a hick from the country who travels to Hollywood with a bundle of Maw and Paw's cash to pay off the debt on their house. Almost immediately upon his arrival in Tinseltown he mistakes a bank robber in drag for an actress who he believes will get him into the pictures. The 'actress' hides out with our hayseed hero in a hotel room in which house detective Oliver Hardy just happens to be taking a bath, and all sorts of hilarity ensues.

Well, maybe hilarity is too strong a word: mild amusement tempered by an occasional bout of boredom is probably a better way to describe this one. I can't imagine why Glenn Tryon was a star back in the twenties; he lacked any kind of charisma, had no looks to speak of, and no discernible comic talent judging by his performance here. Hardy's OK, but Stan Laurel steals the entire film in the last couple of minutes as another hotel guest (complete with brush moustache) who finds a fight between Tryon and the thief taking place on the bed he's sleeping in.

Several years after first appearing together in The Lucky Dog, Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy both ended up at the Hal Roach Studios-Stan as a writer and director, Ollie as supporting player, usually as a heavy. Between May 1925 and January 1926, they combined their respective talents on three films at The Lot of Fun: Yes, Yes Nanette, Wandering Papas, and Madame Mystery. Eventually, Stan would be persuaded to appear on film again. And so in August of '26, both Stan and Ollie appeared again on the same short-but not together. Ollie played a hotel detective chasing the leading man (Glenn Tryon) while Stan played a sleeping guest whose nap is bothered by Glenn's fight with another man when they crash in his room. Ollie is outside of Stan's door but he never comes in narrowly missing meeting Stan by several feet. They're both funny here what with Stan's befuddlement at the goings on and Ollie's occasional looks to the camera when confronted with his jealous wife. The film is mostly slapdash but I laughed heartily at most of it. The main reason I'm reviewing this now is because since I'm reviewing Our Gang shorts in chronological order, this was the next on my list since they appear here in an insert from one of their then-recent films. So on that note, I highly recommend 45 Minutes from Hollywood especially if you're an L & H completist.

This is a fast past gag filed movie that runs more like a Max Senate movie than something produced by Roach! It also seem sot be an ad of a lot the the Roach talent -- many who make uncredited or credited walk ons (E.G. Our Gang)

There isn't much of a story, but I really like looking at the scenes in a fairly barren Los Angeles! Dirt streets and empty landscape. There's even a quick scene in teh Hollywood Hotel where teh first oscars were given out. It later turned into a drug infested dump from the 60's-80's, was renovated and then populated by thugs and gangstas.

Hardy sports a Chester Conklin brush mustache and hadn't gained all that weight yet. Stanley has one too! Odd. I nearly mistook him for Jimmy Finlayson.

And apparently there was no gun control in 1927.

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.

It was in fact Laurel and Hardy that were my reason for seeing their second collaboration '45 Minutes from Hollywood' in the first place, and how my knowledge of its existence came to me as part of my Laurel and Hardy "re-watch and review output" quest. '45 Minutes from Hollywood' doesn't really do them, as individuals and as a double act, justice and is not particularly good in its own right judging it as a short film. Not awful and far from unwatchable, not much great at the same time either.

'45 Minutes from Hollywood' has plus points. It doesn't look too bad and boasts a couple of amusing if never hilarious moments that stop it from being completely unfunny.

The whole cast do their best with what they have and do a more than serviceable job.

On the other hand, Laurel and Hardy are not much of a double act, sharing no scenes together, and screen time-wise Hardy has more to so while Laurel is near-wasted in a mere one scene. Not much of their material is funny, which is true of much of the humour in general. It tended to be clumsy and predictable, some of it repetitive. Considering the title, it is hard not to be disappointed when the short doesn't do anywhere near enough with its premise, pretty much neglecting it after a promising start and favouring slapstick to it.

Regarding the story, it is paper thin and too often lacks energy as a result of feeling over-stretched and like it doesn't go very far. One does wish there was more variety for something as slapstick and pratfall-heavy as '45 Minutes from Hollywood', the lack of variety makes it feel repetitive.

To conclude, okay for a one-time watch but underwhelming. 4/10 Bethany Cox