The Fixer Uppers

Laurel and Hardy are selling greeting cards door to door. When they enter Mae Busch's flat, they find her in tears. She feels her husband, Charles Middleton, is neglecting her. She offers to pay Ollie $50 to make love to her to make Middleton jealous and reawaken his feelings. The plan is successful. Middleton feels it necessary to challenge Hardy to a duel.

It's a very late short for the Boys, filled with nonsense and sight gags, and Arthur Housman doing his drunk act. It's also the last short that longtime Roach stalwart, Noah Young would appear in with Stan and Ollie.

MAE BUSCH is having domestic problems with her husband, CHARLES MIDDLETON, and comes up with a scheme to get him back by making him jealous. She uses Christmas card salesman OLIVER HARDY as the man but things go wrong when Middleton not only becomes jealous but threatens to kill Hardy in a shooting duel.

STAN LAUREL steals the show in his usual bumbling way and ARTHUR HOUSMAN comes close to doing some scene-stealing of his own as a drunken neighbor.

It's foolish stuff, of course, typical of the sort of scrapes Laurel and Hardy were famous for, their Christmas card greetings written by Stan being both dismal and daffy.

Middleton is excellent as the villain of the piece, playing his part without a trace of humor in order to make him the fearsome character he is as Busch's jealous hubby.

Good for a few laughs, but definitely not one of the duo's best.

THE FIXER UPPERS

Aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white - Short film)

Stan 'n' Ollie are hired to 'seduce' a desperate housewife (Mae Busch) who wants to inspire a jealous reaction from her uncaring husband (Charles Middleton). However, the plan backfires when Middleton determines to take deadly revenge against these 'home-wreckers'...

Lively stuff from L&H's glory days, a reworking of their silent short SLIPPING WIVES (1927), played to the hilt by a note-perfect cast, and constructed with just the right amount of tact and discretion by director Charles Rogers. A formidable presence in so many films of the era, Middleton - later to star as 'Emperor Ming' in the "Flash Gordon" serials - plays the villain with deadly seriousness (complete with silent movie mannerisms and exaggerated indignation), which renders proceedings all the more amusing, while L&H blunder their way into trouble at every turn. Watch out for the memorable diner sequence, which includes Stan's famous response to a ringing telephone.

THE FIXER UPPERS was one of Laurel and Hardy's final short films, and its a classic. One thing to note, there were more clever lines and situations at work here, as opposed to the usual crashes and explosions. The boys manage to mess things up either way, now working as greeting card salesmen who happen upon weepy customer Mae Busch --who wants to use Ollie to make her stubborn husband jealous!

This was a good switch for Stan and Ollie, and with Charles Middleton playing the "deadly serious" husband, who happens to know how to use a gun! Middleton was always a fun bad guy for Laurel and Hardy, usually playing a bitter, revengeful chap, ready to strangle them. In one goofy bit, Hardy phones him and lets the insults fly, followed by Stan, prompting Middleton to hang up and declare he'll kill them both, the sooner the better!

By the way, Mae Busch never looked lovelier, and exceptionally well dressed, as opposed to her usual exasperated housewife roles opposite Hardy. Not to forget she was a leading dramatic actress in silent films. Arthur Houseman is again cast as a loony drunk (with an ice pack on his noggin), one of the boys customers, probably the best actor ever to play such a role.

The bedroom scene with the cops carrying Stan and Ollie (who drank too much also) into Mae's room ---before her husband arrives --is outrageous. This short was originally computerized colored for vhs with a few other L & H films.

Note that some of Laurel and Hardy's short films are on European dvds that will not play on U. S. made dvd and blu ray players. Be sure to check where the box set was produced.

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.

Didn't find 'The Fixer Uppers' one of the duo's best, one of their lesser ones actually from this period from personal opinion. In a filmography that was mostly solid to classic (only '45 Minutes from Hollywood' misfired for me but that was very early on when their partnership and style hadn't formed or evolved and when Hardy especially was not being used well), nonetheless it is still good and has much of what makes Laurel and Hardy's work as appealing as it is.

'The Fixer Uppers' story is threadbare and more problematic is how daftly credibility-straining and heavy in coincidence it is.

Also found it a bit of a slow-starter with a draggy first third where there is a little too much talk for my liking.

However, 'The Fixer Uppers' is nonetheless very funny, especially the boys' reactions (notably Hardy's). It is rarely dull, going at a snappy pace, and there is energy in the slapstick and sly wit, silly and typical of the duo but in an endearing and entertaining way. The second half is much better, livelier in pace and chockfull of beautifully timed gags and wit.

Both Laurel and Hardy are on top form, especially Laurel. They are equally funny with impeccable comic timing physically and verbally, this is not a case of one being funnier and having more screen time than the other (in their early efforts Laurel tended to be funnier and better used). Their chemistry is legendary for a reason and it is obvious here. The supporting cast are up to their level, as scene stealing as Arthur Houseman is as a drunk and amusing Mae Busch is it is fearsome Charles Middleton who comes off the best. 'The Fixer Uppers' visually looks good and the direction is never too busy or static.

In summary, good but not great. 7/10 Bethany Cox