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This is an unusual Laurel & Hardy comedy with something of a split personality: at times it feels like two movies made in different styles spliced into a single short. Happily, each portion is funny in its own right, and the boys' seemingly effortless clowning carries the day and synthesizes the film's disparate elements into an entertaining whole. While I've never heard any Laurel & Hardy buff cite Dirty Work as an all-time favorite, it's nonetheless one that everybody seems to like.

Our story is set in the home of Professor Noodle, who represents one element of the story-line: a wildly over-the-top parody of Mad Scientist tales. This marks a rare venture into sci-fi territory for L&H; Abbott & Costello and The Three Stooges tangled with mad doctors far more often than Stan and Ollie. In any event, the professor is obsessed with creating a rejuvenating serum that can make people younger, while his sardonic butler, Jessup, expresses skepticism with rolled eyes and the occasional dry quip. Meanwhile, Stan and Ollie are chimney sweeps who show up at the Professor's home the very day he perfects his solution. "Their" portion of the film consists of characteristic (but first-rate) slapstick involving the chimney, the roof, shovels, and a number of unfortunate mishaps. If you don't enjoy watching the boys screw up a task then you probably won't like Dirty Work, but for fans of the team this movie is a feast. The highlight comes when Ollie plummets through the chimney, lands in the fireplace, and is then pummeled with bricks that fall onto his head with maddening, rhythmic precision, one by one. I also like the shot of Ollie tumbling off the roof into a greenhouse; the process work is so rudimentary I suspect it was something of an inside joke, in the way that W.C. Fields' movies would boast the world's worst rear projection screens.

The slapstick stuff is great fun, but it's the mad scientist motif that makes this film memorably offbeat, and two supporting players deserve a tip of the bowler hat: prolific character actor Lucien Littlefield is terrific as Professor Noodle, delivering his overripe lines with relish and cackling with glee, while Sam Adams is a stitch in the less showy role of Jessup the butler. As great as Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were in their prime, it's always worth noting that their supporting players at the Hal Roach Studio gave their films an enormous boost. So too, usually, did the background music of Le Roy Shield, but Dirty Work marks a rare occasion from this period that a Roach comedy has no musical accompaniment at all after the opening credits. Mood music might have enhanced the proceedings, but the lack of it is no great flaw. This is a highly enjoyable comedy, a prime example of what made Laurel & Hardy so popular in their day -- and long beyond it.

No, this isn't the 1998 comedy feature directed by Bob Saget. It's another of the classic Laurel & Hardy shorts, in which they play chimney sweeps who go to do a job at a mad scientist's place. From that description, you can be sure it won't turn out well; I said "Laurel & Hardy", didn't I? With Ollie on the roof and Stan in the living room, the only one who's going to come out well when Lucien Littlefield tries out his rejuvenation potion, is the chimpanzee.

Hardy does look good covered in soot. It hides his bald spot.

I have seen Dirty Work several times and is probably my favourite Stan and Ollie short.

In this one, Stan and Ollie are chimney sweeps and get the job to clean the chimney at the home of Professor Noodle (Lucien Littlefield). While Noodle is doing mad experiments in his lab, Stan and Ollie cause much chaos trying to clean the chimney and make a mess of the living room. The end is where Ollie falls into a tank of special formula that Noodle uses for his experiments and this turns him into a chimp! The best part is where Ollie falls down the chimney and loads of bricks land on his head, but he doesn't seem to suffer much pain from this.

Dirty Work is Stan and Ollie at their funniest. Great fun.

Rating: 5 stars out of 5.

Laurel and Hardy are chimney sweeps. They come to the house of research scientist Professor Noodle and set about ineptly trying to sweep his chimney – causing more damage than doing work. Meanwhile the slightly unhinged Noodle carries out tests on a potion that reverses the ageing process.

I'm slowing becoming a big fan of Laurel & Hardy. This is about the tenth short film of theirs that I have seen in the past month and I have enjoyed them all with only a few minor reservations. This is no exception. The simple set up give way to the jokes you expect and no real surprises, in fact at least two of the gags are so signposted you see them miles away. It's a credit to their delivery that it's all still very funny!

Both Oliver and Stan have great skills – whether it's Ollie's looks to camera or Stan's whimpering, all delivery is hilarious and average jokes are hilarious in their hands. The side plot of the potion is intrusive a little because we keep leaving the cleaning process to watch Noodle mix the potion but it does build to a funny climax so it is pretty much worth it.

Overall, fans of this wonderful duo will be pleased with this short as it is just what you expect from them – good routines, funny jokes and great delivery.

Laurel & Hardy are working as chimney sweeps in this one, and they're summoned to the house of a slightly potty scientist who is working on a rejuvenation serum. Ollie spends much of the film trying to stay as far away as possible from Stan by working on the roof while Stan remains in the house, but working at the top end of a stick when Stan's at the bottom isn't a good idea, and it's not long before Ollie comes crashing down the chimney.

I wonder how much time was spent calculating the exact right moment to drop each brick onto Ollie's head to get maximum laughs as he sits at the bottom of the chimney. Possibly Stan, as he was the creative force in the partnership. If it was him, he got it exactly right. It's a small detail, almost inconsequential, but if it had been mistimed it wouldn't have been half as funny.

The potty professor's sarcastic butler is also pretty funny. 'You'll find it in there, standing against the wall,' he dryly informs Ollie when he enquires as to the whereabouts of the chimney.

The concept of having Laurel & Hardy this time in the role of chimney sweepers works out surprisingly hilarious. It guarantees some funny situations and silly antics, from especially Stan Laurel of course as usual.

The movie also has a subplot with a nutty professor who is working on a rejuvenation formula. It doesn't really sound like a logical mix of story lines and incoherent but both plot lines blend in perfectly toward the memorable ending. It's still a bit weird but its funny nevertheless, so it works for the movie.

The supporting cast of the movie is surprising good. Sam Adams is great as the stereotypical butler and Lucien Littlefield goes deliciously over-the-top as the nutty professor.

The movie is filled with some excellent timed and hilarious constructed sequences, which are all quite predictable but become hilarious to watch nevertheless thanks to the way they are all executed. It all helps to make "Dirty Work" to be one of the better Laurel & Hardy shorts.

8/10

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In many ways DIRTY WORK is a predictable L&H short on the surface with the boys going to sweep someone`s chimney . Guess what happens next ? That`s right slapstick at its most sucessful ensues .

But there`s one or two things that seem untypical . Ollie for example is very unlikable , he`s arrogant , he`s rude , and not only to Stan look at the way he addresses the servant with " HEY YOU " and takes a childish huff very easily with his catchphrase being " I have nothing to say " . In short Ollie plays a bully in a very unlikable way and I much prefer to see him to play the arrogant coward where he`s always at his funniest

DIRTY WORK also lacks the reportary regulars of the other L&H shorts like Finlayson , Long , Busch and Housman which means when we switch to the mad scientist plotline there`s a slightly creepy atmosphere that jars with the rest of the movie

Having said that this is still a good short mainly down to Stan . Also watch out for a scene featuring a fish . Many jokes/plots from L&H feature fish and this is another one

A LAUREL & HARDY Comedy Short. The Boys arrive to sweep the chimneys at the home of Professor Noodle, a mad scientist who's just perfected his rejuvenation serum. Stan & Ollie proceed with their DIRTY WORK, spreading destruction inside the house and on the roof. Then the Professor wants to try out his new potion...

A very funny little film. The ending is a bit abrupt, but much of the slapstick leading up to it is terrific. Especially good is Stan & Ollie's contest of wills at opposite ends of the chimney. That's Lucien Littlefield as the Professor.

I mean, seriously now. A couple of reviewers here wrote "it's all quite predictable" and "some of the material may not be new" (there's an understatement) and both still give "Dirty Work" an 8/10. Having seen all of this before, I cannot in good conscience do the same.

Plot In a Nutshell: Two inept chimney sweeps (Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy) wreak havoc at the home of a scientist working on a 'rejuvenation' potion.

Why I Rated It a '5': So, full disclosure. I've been watching various Laurel and Hardy films for the last 30 days or so, going back to 1927 and working my way up chronologically. With "Dirty Work" I am up to 1933. And I can tell you this: L&H aren't quite the geniuses I thought they were. They are still pretty good, don't get me wrong, but I've been alarmed at the number of jokes and routines they recycled from one film to the next. It's a little jarring, and frankly disappointing, to see the same bits multiple times in multiple films. At what point does one say 'OK, if you use something 5 times in 5 different films, maybe that's not genius?' I'm at that point.

To wit: In this film, Stan tugs at Ollie's jacket and shirt sleeve. I knew before it happened that Stan would rip the sleeve off. Why? Because I've seen this before. Whenever Stan grabs someone else's clothing, take it to the bank that he'll be ripping off a sleeve or ripping someone's pants. At another point, Stan sets up a dropcloth over the fireplace to prevent soot from spreading in the room, and inexplicably puts all of the items from the mantle (like a clock and a vase), back on the mantle. I knew immediately this dropcloth would come down, and everything on the mantle would come down with it. And it happened. Not only once, but twice! Genius? I don't think so.

This has to be at least the 4th film I've seen where bricks from a fireplace land on Ollie's head. The chimney on the roof gets demolished, that's been used before in "Hog Wild," perhaps in more. And only a liar would say that they didn't think that Ollie, leaning over a large water tank, would get bumped into that tank by Stan sooner or later. The very epitome of predictable.

So, no, I can't do it. I can't rate this an 8 when I've seen just about all of the gags in this film done by L&H already. I don't know how the other reviewers are so forgiving. Perhaps they don't demand much from the material. The only unique part of the story was the scientist and his magic potion which results in the admittedly funny final gag. But it's not enough to save "Dirty Work" from largely being anything more than a rehash of prior bits.

5/10. If someone tells you a funny joke five times, are you still laughing after the 5th time? There is such a thing as 'diminishing returns' and that's what you get here with "Dirty Work." If you've never seen L&H before, then this is indeed funny. But if you've seen at least 10 of their short films, then you've already seen "Dirty Work," whether you know it or not.

Here we go again. New job. Chimney sweeps at the home of a nutty scientist. The guy is working on a kind of fountain of youth substance and Laurel and Hardy are called in to clean the chimney. Of course, not only do they not do their jobs, they dismantle the place they are working on. So what else is new? Nothing, other than the incredible ways they find to wreak havoc on the world. This has one of my favorite bits that they used in other films as well. As the chimney collapses, Ollie sits on the hearth as one brick after another falls on his head. Just when you think the last brick has fallen, another one bonks him. These guys were the absolute best.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made 107 films together as a comedy team (72 silent and sound short subjects, 23 features, and 12 cameo appearances in films starring others). Call me crazy ("Hey, crazy!") but I never enjoyed silent era films. I tried, oh I tried, but each time an actor's mouth moved there was nothing but an awkward silence. Then after what seemed too lengthy of a wait, a placard flashed on the TV screen, reflecting what the actor had just said moments before. I found this to be very distracting, plus it slowed down the natural comedic timing. This lapse between action and dialog, for me, was like watching an entire movie subtitled, and I couldn't square the two up.

That being said, I didn't watch any of the short and feature length "TV reruns" unless they were "talkies." As a kid who was fortunate enough to have a tiny black and white TV set in my bedroom, every Saturday morning before my parents or the Sun were up, I was thoroughly mesmerized by the vaudevillian, overtly physical humor of Buster Keaton, Our Gang (The Little Rascals), The Three Stooges, and of course, Laurel & Hardy.

In Dirty Work (1932) the plot, like many of the L&H shorts, is simple - Chimney Sweeps Ollie and Stan set out to clean the chimney of a old and eccentric scientist (Professor Noodle) who has spend the last 20 years working on a "rejuvenation formula" that will make him 30 years younger. It doesn't take long before Stan and Ollie have bricks, black fireplace soot, broken furniture and pure mayhem ruining the old mansion. Indeed, the only thing the angry butler can say to the boys is "Somewhere an electric chair is waiting!" (This also happens to be one of my favorite lines in L&H films.)

No spoilers here as usual, but I will reveal that this film is one of the very few times you can see Oliver Hardy's tattoo (located on his right forearm).

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.

Although a vast majority of Laurel and Hardy's previous efforts ranged from above average to very good ('45 Minutes from Hollywood' being the only misfire and mainly worth seeing as a curiosity piece and for historical interest, and even that wasn't a complete mess), 'Two Tars' for me was their first truly classic one with close to flawless execution. Didn't find 'Dirty Work' quite one of their very best, but it to me still very good.

Admittedly, the story is pretty thin, in fact there's not really much of one, and is pretty standard.

It was something of a turn off seeing Hardy have an atypically unlikeable character, he does very well but the type of character doesn't suit him, he works better as a bumbler.

Despite that, 'Dirty Work' is great fun while also having a definite degree of substance, never less than very amusing and the best moments being classic hilarity. It is never too silly, there is a wackiness that never loses its energy and the sly wit is here, some of the material may not be new but how it's executed actually doesn't feel too familiar and it doesn't get repetitive. It's all simple but it is effective in its simplicity without feeling too thin, Professor Noodle adds lots of fun and conflict. The ending is a little abrupt but great fun as well.

Laurel and Hardy are on top form here, both are well used, both have material worthy of them and they're equal rather than one being funnier than the other (before Laurel tended to be funnier and more interesting than Hardy, who tended to be underused). Their chemistry feels like a partnership here too, before 'Two Tars' you were yearning for more scenes with them together but in 'Dirty Work' and on the most part from 'Two Tars' onwards we are far from robbed of that. Their comic timing is impeccable. Hardy is still funny even with a different and not so appealing character.

'Dirty Work' looks good visually, is full of energy and the direction gets the best out of the stars, is at ease with the material and doesn't let it get too busy or static. The supporting cast support them well, with a fantastically nuts Lucien Littlefield being a terrific adversary.

Concluding, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

I really feel a need to explain my 6 point rating.

The truth is, if this movie was just about the slapstick antics between L&H cleaning the chimney, I'd give it a 10.

It's top notch, and I don't think they've done better.

However the plot revolving the nutty professor and the weirdo butler is kind of stupid. Actually, not kind of, it is.

This is by far the funniest short made by the two comic geniuses. From the time they walk in, to the time Hardy just falls off the roof, this keeps me laughing hysterically. I highly suggest that every fan of Laurel and Hardy should see this short. I also recommend all of the Ghost Series. If you are looking for laughs, see this movie and you will be happy.

Stan and Ollie are employed as chimney sweeps, with predictable (but entirely hilarious) consequences. This is slapstick comedy at its best: short, straightforward and with an emphasis on hilarious pratfalls and physical comedy throughout. There's a twist ending of sorts thrown into the mix as well: a sub-plot that sees an eccentric scientist making an elixir of eternal youth results in some unforeseen consequences for the boys.

The comedic duo are at their best in DIRTY WORK, and the gags come thick and fast. I believe that the pair were at their best when employed in physical labour, and the calibre of this effort helps to highlight that.

This Laurel & Hardy short comedy features two subplots that come together towards the end. Stan and Ollie are chimney sweeps, working at the home of a mad professor. As the professor is busy trying to perfect his latest wacky formula, the boys are raising havoc with their attempts to clean out his chimney. The subplot about the professor's secret formula is only mildly amusing at most, and is really there only to set up one gag at the end. But the chimney sweep scenes are another very funny instance of how many laughs that Laurel and Hardy could get out of one simple situation. They use the props and setting with their usual creativity. Overall, this is quite entertaining.