Mixed Nuts

While not all of the blame for this horrid little comedy(?) should be put on Stan Laurel, it does rank as one of his worst existing films. Part of the reason the film is so bad is that some film producers took scenes and outtakes from two other older films to make this incomprehensible mess. The same thing happened to Chaplin when he worked for Essenay Studios--after he left and went to Mutual, Essenay took outtakes and old shorts and spliced them together to make "new" Chaplin films--ones that really stank, by the way.

However, even without the unscrupulous editing, this film just isn't funny. The main premise seems to be that Stan is a bit daft and obsessed with Napoleon. When he then gets hit on the head, he thinks he's Napoleon--though little of what he does seems to convey this. Mostly it conveys terrible overacting on Stan's part and no coherence as a story. Please don't watch this film. It will make you think Stan Laurel's solo career was a bust, but he did make some wonderful shorts before eventually being teamed with Oliver Hardy. Try watching Dr. Pyckle and Mr. Pryde and you'll see what I mean.

Stan Laurel may have been a great comedian, but even he doesn't come off as very funny when his material is cut out of context and shuffled together into an incomprehensible short film. I'm not sure I even want to consider this a film in its own right, as it is composed mainly of outtakes from other Stan Laurel films with bridging shots and new title cards designed to fool the audience into thinking they are seeing something new. It doesn't come off well. The extent of Stan's character is: "He's crazy. He does things that don't make any sense." Therefore non of the comedy comes off. Most of the film he spends apparently convinced that he is Napoleon because he's been hit on the head with a ball. Apparently this causes him to do Napoleon-like things such as try to eat a lunch he can't pay for in a cafeteria, keep changing in and out of a boater hat, and try various unusual methods of cracking a nut. A good percentage of the jokes consist of "Stan falls down."

I don't really blame Stan Laurel for the ineffectiveness of this short. Even when his solo films are not his best work, they are much more cohesive and funny than this. Don't take this as representative of Stan Laurel as a solo act. Watch "Dr Jekyll and Mr. Pryde" instead. Stan will be better served and you will laugh more.