Sous les verrous

In Laurel's and Hardy's first full length talking picture the boys go behind bars.And Stan's loose tooth gets the boys in trouble many times, when it starts making a funny noise every time he speaks.Pardon Us offers you many funny moments with Laurel and Hardy.

Being the lads first full length feature it's not surprising that much of it feels like filler, certainly the jokes are not quick fire and the culminating outcome doesn't quite leave the viewer fully satisfied. However it should be noted that Laurel & Hardy's average output is still better than most other duos who would follow in their slipstream, and Pardon Us does have those moments that ooze comedy class. Witness both Stan & Ollie trying to control a machine gun with typical riotous results, enjoy Stanley's tooth problem that becomes a running gag, and of course enjoy Oliver's incredulous looks at the camera. It's solid if unspectacular, but certainly worth a watch now and then, 6/10.

Footnote: Other user comments allude to certain aspects being un PC for the modern age, who cares is what I say, this is after all Laurel & Hardy in the 30s, it worked then and really it still works now, harmless and enjoyable fun.

Laurel and Hardy's first feature film is a rather uneven affair with a disjointed story that sees Laurel and Hardy are sent to prison for selling home brew to a policeman during prohibition.

In hail they end up on the wrong side of their cellmate, The Tiger who is mean bad one. Stan's loose tooth which makes a raspberry noise constantly lands the duo in trouble.

They end up in solitary, then escape to a cotton plantation and once recaptured they inadvertently break up a prison riot.

The film is rather overlong and padded, like a couple of shorts cobbled together with some songs.

PARDON US, filmed in 1930 then edited down and released in 1931, is Laurel and Hardy's first feature-length comedy. In it, they are set to jail after Stan sells some illegal brew to a policeman ("Well, I couldn't help it-I thought he was a streetcar conductor!"). The whole film is pretty funny. There isn't much story, but a series of funny things that happen to the boys in jail. The finale has Stan and Ollie foiling a jailbreak. Highlights of the film include a great "welcoming" scene with extremely tolerant warden Wilfred Lucas, Laurel and Hardy posing as African American sharecroppers (with Stan shoving entire plants of cotton into his bag while Hardy daintily picks each piece of cotton with care), and a hilarious schoolroom scene with teacher James Finlayson! Not up to the standard of SONS OF THE DESERT or WAY OUT WEST, but still very funny. Try and get the complete 65-minute version that was on video in the early 1980s.

Laurel and Hardy are shopping for ingredients for their next get rich scheme – making and selling liquor during prohibition. Of course when Laurel sells a bottle of beer to a policeman, there is only ever going to be one outcome and the two finds themselves on the way to the big house. Locked up with a mean spirited collection of fellas, Stan and Oliver take their chance to escape and find themselves wanted men on the run.

Having just watched the very structured "Our Relations" it was noticeable when I stepped back into the much looser Pardon Us. The basic plot is no more than a nail on which to hang a series of comic scenarios and, as such, it works because it is pretty funny for the majority. The story is pretty weak but it does allow for a solid spoof of jail clichés as well as a pretty un-PC but funny scene where the boys try to pass themselves off as cotton pickers. Despite not having this flow to it, the film does have a couple of good stand out scenes that will please everyone with their typical silliness and mix of looks and double-takes.

Laurel and Hardy are both on form and are served to their strengths well. Finlayson is wonderful in a great classroom scene and he got the biggest laughs from me with a master class in slow burns and double takes. Long is enjoyably tough as The Tiger while Lucas is a good warden. The support cast are roundly good even if they are mainly there to carry the scenes rather than the comedy. The musical numbers are obvious but still good – with Hardy getting a good chance to show off his baritone talents.

Overall a thinly plotted affair but one that delivers quite a few memorable and hilarious scenes, connected with generally amusing moments.