Early to Bed

This early Laurel & Hardy comedy is something of an oddity, and although fans will want to see it at least once Early to Bed is not one of the team's more entertaining efforts. Moreover, for anyone who cares about Laurel & Hardy, that is, anyone who regards the characters they portray with fondness, this film could well be a disturbing, unpleasant experience. I'm a lifelong L&H fan and enjoy most of their output, but seeing the boys' friendship go sour in Early to Bed feels like watching helplessly while two old friends get into a vicious fistfight.

By the time this film was made the guys had developed the screen personae we all remember, complete with derbies and shabby-genteel suits. More to the point, their childlike personalities and relationship with each other were pretty well established, as we observe in the opening scene. Stan and Ollie sit on a park bench with a scruffy little dog called Buster; they may be homeless, but they aren't starving and their world is somehow in harmony. But when Ollie learns he has inherited a fortune, and magnanimously allows Stan to become his butler, things get seriously out of whack, for it quickly becomes obvious that prosperity does not bring out the best in Mr. Hardy.

For the next several scenes (which take place after Ollie has acquired a big house and filled it with possessions), we watch with growing dismay as Ollie, now a drunken playboy, torments his conscientious servant. Ollie locks Stan out of the house, bops him on the head and laughs, chases him, and pours water on him in his bed. Understandably, Stan becomes increasingly upset and exasperated with the new order of things, although he's expected to maintain decorum and address his tormentor as "Sir." These scenes are more pathetic than funny, and the (generally under-appreciated) acting skill of both men makes matters worse, for Ollie's gleeful sadism seems just as real as Stan's deepening sense of humiliation. It's only when Stan finally reaches the limit of his tolerance and retaliates that the film becomes more satisfying, for we all enjoy seeing a worm turn, and God knows Ollie deserves a comeuppance. Nevertheless, in the end this movie leaves a rather disagreeable aftertaste.

The best thing in Early to Bed is a sequence involving an ornate indoor fountain that graces the Hardy mansion, decorated with cherubs designed to resemble Ollie. The fountain becomes the climactic setting for Stan's revenge, and the boys' implied reconciliation. (The gag is a reworking of a sequence in a Mabel Normand comedy entitled Should Men Walk Home?, released a year earlier, with Oliver Hardy in a supporting role.) While this sequence is clever in its own right, the amusing egotism of the fountain's design also offers a neat satirical comment on the Nouveau Riche. The scene works well as a stand-alone excerpt in Robert Youngson's compilation The Further Perils of Laurel & Hardy. In the context of Early to Bed the fountain sequence is certainly the highlight, and the best reason to watch in the first place.

This was a strange Laurel and Hardy silent short subject. For one thing except for a dog there are no other cast members. No Jimmy Finlayson for reaction shots to their clowning.

Early To Bed also has Ollie almost turning into a bully. God knows his character gets thoroughly exasperated with Stan, but I never saw him bully Stan. As for Laurel. I've never seen him change so radically as he did except in A Chump At Oxford. When the worm turns it really turns.

One day these two with their dog are polishing a park bench with the seat of their pants when Ollie gets a letter saying he now has a fortune. Stan is concerned that there's no place for him, but Ollie offers him the position of butler and Stan takes it.

It's abundantly clear soon enough that all Ollie wants is a doormat or a punching bag. But Stan soon tires of being a doormat and when he does watch out.

This is a different Stan and Ollie, but I'm not sure I liked them this way.

This movie its humor is very childish, even for a Laurel & Hardy movie. Never have I seen Oliver Hardy act like a bigger baby before. Sure, it still gives the movie some good laughs but the humor is too simple and predictable to consider this an above average Laurel & Hardy silent comedy short.

Of course none of the Laurel & Hardy movies really have humor of a very high order when it comes to originality, predictability and subtlety but in normal cases this doesn't matter at all, since it's so extremely fine executed and timed. They however really went too far with this movie however. It's even more simple and predictable than we are accustomed to. Not sure what they tried to accomplish here. Perhaps they were targeting for a younger audience?

It's very sad to see acting Oliver Hardy as childish as he does in this movie. It gets to a level that it's almost too embarrassing to watch.

But still, the movie its slapstick is good. Although certainly predictable, it's still funny to watch all. Some of the sequences are really memorable but the rest of the movie and its story drags down the level of entertainment.

6/10

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As a curiosity, EARLY TO BED is one of the oddest films of Laurel and Hardy. It is not one of the funniest of the boys' films - with good reason. Hardy has to be chief victim of the two because he is so pretentious, and he has to be victim by the actions of his close friend Laurel (who does not know his actions are going to hurt Hardy). But Stan rarely, if ever, purposely attacks Hardy - unless he is bullied by Hardy beyond endurance. In some of their shorts he does rebel and lash back at Hardy. But it usually is very brief in duration.

The general view of Oliver Hardy is that he is just as dumb as Stan Laurel but pretentious. That's true, but if either of them happen to have any social position (except in A CHUMP AT OXFORD, where Stan turns out to be a brainy Oxford student and nobleman) it is Hardy. He is a successful businessman turned reform candidate for Mayor in one short, and an apparently wealthy stock speculator turned bridegroom in a second film. In a third film he masquerades as a wealthy hunter and home owner with Stan as the upstairs maid. This is tied to his physical presence and southern courtly behavior. But in all these shorts (except the one where Ollie is an impostor) Stan is a business associate or friend of Ollie's. It is only in EARLY TO BED that we see the actual effect of Ollie getting rich and how it changes his relationship with Stan.

For when he gets rich Ollie gets mean. He enjoys the good life (including a wardrobe that is far more like that of a man about town than the typical derby and wrinkled suit that Ollie wears). He is something of an art collector. And he can only see his pal Stan as a servant. Stan accepts the offer to be Ollie's servant, but probably figured that Ollie would treat him as a pal and close associate. Instead Ollie plays practical jokes, like ringing the doorbell, hiding, while Stan goes outside to see who rang, and then locking Stan out.

Stan puts up with this and more painful and annoying jokes, until he finally gets tired and tells Ollie he's quitting. Ollie refuses to let him (he considers Stan his possession too), and Stan accidentally knocks over one of Ollie's art treasures. It horrifies Ollie, and Stan starts purposely destroying items in Ollie's house. He also chases Hardy, who hides (as has pointed out) in an ornate fountain that has cherubs with Hardy's head sprouting water. Ollie tries to keep up a stream of water, but can't after awhile. Stan than hits him on the head to see if the head is jammed or not. And Hardy releases more water from his mouth!

It is, as most of the comments here say, a rather odd film. It has some moments of humor, but the central business of the story is so contrary to what we expect from Stan and Ollie that it leaves a bitter taste in our mouths. As most say on this thread, see the film for completeness, but you don't have to see it again afterward.

Early to Bed (1928)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Hardy becomes rich overnight and offers his best friend Laurel a job as his butler. Money soon goes to Hardy's head and he come home picking on Laurel. This is a very unfunny film and certainly the worst I've seen from L&H. The two have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever, which really kills things. Most of the jokes come off annoying and not funny.

Sugar Daddies (1927)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A millionaire (James Finlayson) wakes up after a night of partying to discover that he's now married. The new bride and her crazy brother are now trying to blackmail him so he calls his attorney (Stan Laurel) to settle the matter. Not too many laughs here but the thing is fun nonetheless. Oliver Hardy plays the butler.