De la soupe populaire au caviar

From Soup to Nuts (1928)

*** (out of 4)

Laurel and Hardy are waiters to a rich party but havoc begins as they start to serve the food. This is a delightful short that doesn't have too much going for it other than the boys falling into the food but this here is quite funny especially Hardy and the cake.

Another Fine Mess (1930)

*** (out of 4)

Laurel and Hardy, being chased by the police, enter a mansion and assume the identity of the owner and maid. This is a very funny short with highlights including Laurel going from the butler to the maid in a matter of minute to the best moment at the end of the film in a horse outfit.

This seems to be the earliest time that Stan Laurel & Ollver Hardy have had to encounter High Society as they are employed as waiters in a mansion in From Soup to Nuts. Because they hadn't been in this particular environment before, it's expected they wouldn't know how to behave in front of certain people. So, of course, disaster happens! There's also a young society lady played by Anita Garvin who keeps having trouble with a grape and her tiara, sometimes at the same time! Besides some of the food gags (as well as hat and plate ones), there's also Stan's taking some things literally which you'll get when you watch this as I just did on YouTube. So on that note, From Soup to Nuts is a fine L & H short directed by Edgar Kennedy, who's usually cast as their antagonist though not here. Next, I'll review Stan & Ollie's next encounter with the rich in Another Fine Mess.

"Some wiggler huh?" Oliver Hardy says while both he and Stan Laurel ogle Anita Garvin's swaying backside (and quite an ogle inducing backside it is).

Quite refreshing to see a pre-code comedy that shows that men were not indifferent to female charms despite what most films from 1935 to 1950-something would have us believe. Nothing smutty like you would see today. Just an appreciation of the female form in all it's glory.

And besides, it's Laurel & Hardy.

d:) d:)

As others have commented, this isn't one of the boys best, but it is probably on a par (if not better) than anything they had done individually up to that point in their careers. The set-up is simple: Stan and Ollie are a pair of hapless (what else?) waiters employed to serve food at a swank dinner party. Of course chaos ensues as Ollie repeatedly falls head first into a gigantic cake after slipping on a banana skin, and Stan takes the instruction to serve the salad without dressing literally. Some of the gags are a little repetitive, but there's enough quality here to see why Hal Roach decided to keep the boys together. The film was pretty much remade (together with elements from Another Fine Mess) to provide an extended prologue to the European version of 1939's A Chump at Oxford.

Definitely not the best silent Laurel & Hardy comedy short but like all Laurel & Hardy movies; it's all very enjoyable to watch.

The premise of the movie is simple (like it should be in a Laurel & Hardy movie) and relies on the mishaps of the two boys as inexperienced and of course very clumsy waiters, at a fancy dinner party and of course things go from nuts to nuttier, as the movie progresses.

The movie does has its tiresome, usual stretched out comical moments but some original well placed and timed humor as well, that was later also 'reused' in multiple other Laurel & Hardy movies. It doesn't make this movie one of the most hilarious ones but definitely one of the most defining and typical Laurel & Hardy comedy shorts. The movie is directed by Edgar Kennedy, who as an actor also starred along side with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy together in multiple of their comedy films, before and after this movie.

In this case the movie definitely would had been a better one had it been a 'talkie' but alas, it doesn't mean that the overall end result is disappointing. This movie has plenty of entertaining slapstick humor to offer, that will surely shall please the fans.

7/10

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