Le bon filon

Laurel and Hardy sneak their dog, Laughing Gravy, into their room, despite the 'no pets' policy of landlord Charlie Hall.

The Boys seem to have been fond of the movie they could make about pets in boarding houses. They had already done ANGORA LOVE with a goat as their last silent movie, and would make THE CHIMP later, as well as dealing with gorillas, elephants, and Oxford undergraduates in their features. Here, they've got to deal not only with a desprately cold night, but Charlie Hall, like Stan, a graduate of the Fred Karno troupe.

Laurel and Hardy are still together despite having one empty pocket book between them. They have a reasonable room in a hostel but have to keep their dog, Laughing Gravy, hidden from the landlord else they'll be put out on the street. One winter's night, Gravy's constant barking threatens to expose them so they take action to keep him hidden – with limited success.

As always, the Laurel and Hardy shorts are perhaps less important for their plot than they are for the often wonderful sequences that the plot device allows for. Here the plot device is an `illegal' (in terms of contract) dog. The ways they try to hide the dog and the consequences of their actions are funny without being wonderful. As usual Hardy's (and a lesser extent, Laurel's) looks to camera make it all better than it actually is.

Unusually for their shorts, the conclusion of the story allows for a scene of touching honesty between the two, as Hardy becomes quite vulnerable with Laurel. This was a refreshing addition to the mix which, while not tear jerking, was unexpected. As always (for me anyway) Hardy steals the show with his looks to camera but Laurel is as subtle as ever. Charlie Hall is making a bit too much effort but is OK.

Overall this isn't the greatest of their work but it is a good example of everything I love about them as a duo. Their talents make this short better than it probably should be.

LAUGHING GRAVY

Aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white - Short film)

During a heavy blizzard, boarding-house tenants Stan 'n' Ollie hide their dog from an unsympathetic landlord (Charley Hall) who threatens to evict them if they don't follow the rules. Chaos ensues...

Archetypal L&H comedy, played and filmed to perfection, as the boys' efforts to protect 'Laughing Gravy' meet with disaster at every turn. Ollie's attempts to get back into the house without being noticed by the sleeping landlord is only one of the film's many highlights, leading to a precarious rooftop episode (!) and a series of blunders and disasters. Fine comic timing, excellent set-pieces, great fun. Directed with typical gusto by L&H regular James W. Horne.

The film exists in three separate versions: It played theatrically as a two-reeler, following the elimination of a third reel in which Stan comes into an unexpected inheritance. This material has since been restored to a second version which omits the original's ending. A third edition - which appears to exist only in colorized form - contains ALL extant material, including the inheritance AND the original ending.

"Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy stuck together through thick and thin; one pocketbook between them - always empty." - The opening title card of Laughing Gravy.

Laurel and Hardy's comedy short Laughing Gravy is probably the funniest thing in film that ever dealt with the ideas of hypothermia and suicide, let alone those two topics together. In a humorous and well-spent twenty minutes, we see Laurel and Hardy as roommates in a small apartment, housing their dog they nickname "Laughing Gravy" against the landlord's policies. After the dog's incessant barking wakes up the landlord, along with Laurel and Hardy breaking their bed and having the plaster on the wall crumble on top of him, the landlord (Charlie Hall) finds the dog and proceeds to throw him out the window. This leads to a series of comedic improvising by Laurel and Hardy to get the dog back as soon as they can, as well as not waking their landlord up from his slumber.

Laughing Gravy is simplicity well done, as the general bulk of Laurel and Hardy shorts are. The most evident issue here, however, is that this is an early talkie short, so you get the feeling that writer H.M. Walker, at that time, wasn't totally sure of how to structure dialog for a short/feature-film. As asinine as that sounds, after we've been graced in America with films with sound for over eight decades, it's easy to overlook that idea. However, the lack of distinguished dialog and conversation in Laughing Gravy had the ability to make me forget I was watching a short with sound half the time, as music constantly plays in the background.

Other than that, there's little else to say about Laughing Gravy other than the situational comedy in the picture works for a surprising twenty minutes, and that the ending, as unexpected as it is, finds ways to be darkly funny in a way I would've never expected an American short from the early thirties to be. The short is a simple, effective piece of early-American comedy, but not on par with the numerous other fantastic shorts of Laurel and Hardy, or the ones directed by James W. Horne.

Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charlie Hall, and Harry Bernard. Directed by: James W. Horne.

Laughing Gravy (1931)

*** (out of 4)

2-reel version

Laurel and Hardy try to hide their pet dog from the landlord. I wouldn't say this short is overly funny but there's enough fun moments to keep it entertaining. All the stuff with the landlord is good but the stuff with the dog doesn't work as well. Hardy falling in a barrel of water is certainly the highlight.

Laughing Gravy (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

extended 3-reel version

Foreign markets got this extended version with an extra reel, which really hurts the film. Nothing in this added reel is funny so it's no wonder why it was cut out in most places.