Any Old Port!

Laurel and Hardy are a couple of sailors in port. They go to get a room, only to discover that Julie Bishop -- still acting under the name of Jacqueline Wells -- is being forced to marry Walter Long. Later, they need to raise some money, so Oliver volunteers..... for Stan to fight Long in the ring.

Laurel and Hardy's production unit was quite capable of producing scenes of active terror, and then immediately turning the situation around into laughter. Here's an example of that.

Miss Wells had entered the movies in 1923 as a child actress. She assumed the name of Bishop when she signed a contract with Warner Brothers in the early 1940s. She appeared in the last of her eighty features in 1957, and died in 2001, age 87.

This is another nice Laurel & Hardy comedy short, in black and white with sound. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy want a room in a hotel. In that hotel a young woman (Julie Bishop, but credited as Jacqueline Wells) who is working there is forced to marry the hotel manager (Walter Long). Of course Stan & Ollie makes sure this will not happen. Later that day, when the two heroes need some money, Ollie arranges a boxing match to earn some. He wants Laurel to fight and the opponent happens to be the hotel manager.

This comedy short has some great moments. Especially the boxing match is terrific. The first half is a little slower than other Laurel & Hardy movies, but gives us some laughs anyway.

This has a bit of the Way Out West feel as the boys attempt to save a girl from a forced marriage to a horrible hotel owner (Walter Long). The antics of trying to get her away from him are quite good. However, the main event is a boxing match where Stan and Ollie try to earn some money betting on a boxing match. Oliver is scheduled to box but soon tricks Stan into going against the very same Long. Why long felt he needed to load up his boxing glove to stop the 120 pound Stanley is questionable, but it will work against him for sure. Laurel and Hardy never, ever come out on top so we know that the situation, while hilarious, is going to be less than successful. Once again, it is worth watching to see these two guys.

Any Old Port! features just enough action and humor to satisfy my appetite for Laurel and Hardy comedy as it focusing on the two men as sailors who book a hotel and discover the owner, Mugsie Long (Walter Long), wants to marry a woman younger than he is, much to her dismay. After being appalled at what they saw, they save the young girl, but without their wallet, which holds the entirety of their savings. Ollie's friend, in turn, offers up $50 if Ollie will compete in a boxing match against the owner of the hotel, to which he forces Laurel to do the fighting. The outcome, as one would assume, is pretty hilarious.

The short is directed by James W. Horne, who I feel is the best man to direct any Laurel and Hardy short. Combined with H.M. Walker's, Horne's direction takes on the kind of kinetic energy necessary to make a short featuring the two comedic legends click instantaneously, with little reservations. A story like Any Old Port! is often filled to the brim with action and comic spectacle, and combined with the energy and power of the performers and the writing involved, manages to be a fun short through and through.

While light on the quotable nature of Laurel and Hardy shorts, and missing the extra banter and witticisms exchanged by the two men, Any Old Port! succeeds because it recognizes, once more, that situational humor triumphs over slapstick, at least when we have Laurel and Hardy at the core of it all.

Starring: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Directed by: James W. Horne.

By 1932 the Laurel and Hardy comedy partnership was at the top of its game and Any Old Port! is a fine example of the resultant product. The two star performers and the characters they had honed naturally steal the show, but make no mistake, they are far from being the only talents present here.

In order to fit the short two-reel running time the plot is, of course, a simple one - Stan and Ollie, eager to do the right thing, come to a girl's rescue when a brute tries to force her into marriage. But in so doing they make an enemy, one which they must face again when Stan finds himself drawn against the very same man in a boxing contest.

The magic of the Laurel and Hardy series is just how simple everything appears to be on the surface, belying just how carefully crafted every detail actually was. Comedy is injected into every moment, not just the obvious gags but the deft little touches such as the brief cutaway shot of Long's incredulous reaction as Stan and Ollie make the simple task of signing in at the guest house a cumbersome exercise, or the nervous fumbling with the pool table cues when Long calls the Boys over.

Long excels in this film every bit as much as Laurel and Hardy, making a truly frightening opponent. At the same time, however, and like just about every supporting character in this successful series of shorts, there remains that perceptible undercurrent of the comically absurd even in the scenes when he is threatening the girl. It was this comedic depth to all of the characters that was so sorely missed when Laurel and Hardy made the switch to the big studios , but that's another story.

One of the other unsung stars of Any Old Port! is the pacing; the cutting, the skillfully-planned chase sequence, the comic timing of the performers all contrive to enhance the experience of watching this film and keep the viewer's interest at a high level throughout.

And whilst the passage of decades has wrought many changes on the world, the core themes within this short have ensured that the comedy has not dated: the basic ideas of good against evil, David pitted against Goliath, money corrupting morals and, fundamentally, grown men still being capable of acting like children.