Lavori forzati

The back-breaking labor! The cruel guards! Laurel and Hardy!

It doesn't take the Boys long to turn a visit from governor Jimmy Finlayson into absolute chaos, with a mud fight that recalls the pie-fight finale from BATTLE OF THE CENTURY. This doesn't add anything new to the franchise. It's simply a typically brilliantly executed series of fun.

The IMDb trivia for this short claims the song played at the start of this picture is "Ain't She Sweet." It's actually "That's My Weakness Now."

Everyone has heard that famous phrase. But what about imitating yourself? Is that still flattery? Laurel and Hardy recycle not one, but two recently-used comedy routines in this short.

Plot In a Nutshell: Two innocent bystanders (Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy) are swept up in a police raid and sent to prison, where they wreak their usual havoc.

Why I rated it a '5': Overall this is not among L&H's best efforts. When you recycle multiple gags in a 20-minute film, it speaks to a lack of imagination and hints at churning just to get in their quota of 10 shorts a year. For those not aware, the 'loose-top-on-the-salt-shaker' bit was already used in "You're Darn Tootin'" and the 'soggy rice fight' was already used (in the form of pies) in "The Battle of the Century."

Perhaps if you have not seen either of those earlier shorts, "The Hoose-Gow" may seem fresh; but once you realize this, however, one can't help but be less than impressed with this effort. Add to this is the fact that the soggy rice fight isn't particularly hilarious and it just kind of falls flat. Hey, it's still Laurel and Hardy, so it's not a total loss. But in their entire catalog of work, "The Hoose-Gow" is decidedly run-of-the-mill.

5/10. Would I watch again (Y/N)?: Probably not. They did much better work elsewhere.

A LAUREL & HARDY Comedy Short. Stan & Ollie have finally gotten themselves thrown into THE HOOSE-GOW. Having failed miserably in an escape attempt, they find themselves assigned to a road gang - digging ditches. Creating havoc all around them, the Boys even manage to assault the visiting State Governor, eventually involving prisoners, guards & VIP's in a frantic free-for-all with handfuls of boiled rice.

This early talkie is rather unpolished in construction, but Stan & Ollie are always fun to watch. Slapstick humor abounds, especially in the finale. James Finlayson plays the Governor.

Despite claiming to be innocent bystanders when a raid occurs, Laurel and Hardy are sentenced to jail time along with the criminals themselves. Despite trying to reason with a guard they find themselves working a gang digging ditches all day every day.

Any short film that needs a great deal of set up before it actually starts going anywhere, is asking for trouble. On the surface that may not totally be the case here but I suspect it is one of it's weaknesses. The plot here sounds good but it has a few little unnecessary things that are needed to get it to it's original idea (I assume) which is the prison gang.

Once it reaches this stage it is funny but never feels like it reaches a peak. Individual moments are good but it doesn't have any really good sequences – I found the rice fight to be so-so rather than hilarious I'm afraid.

Laurel and Hardy are good of course but they seem to be hampered by a film that requires them to do things that aren't funny just to set up a joke that is funny. This split of time is almost 50/50 so the result is that the film doesn't seem to be as full and lively as their shorts are normally. Finlayson is usually my favourite support actor in the Laurel and Hardy shorts but here he doesn't get to do his trademark moves and is more of a straight man than a part of the comedy.

Overall this is still worth watching but I thought it was one of those rare occasions where the duo simply couldn't stretch the central idea to cover the whole short.

An early Laurel & Hardy talkie, `The Hoose-Gow' is strongest in its first half…the pathetic attempts at escape, the sheer terror on Stan's face as he tries to dislodge the apple from his mouth, the absolute fear and despondency of two child-souls set down amongst a hardened prison population. Also priceless: Ollie's guileless explanation to guard Tiny Sanford: "Honest, officer, we were only watching the raid." Somehow, coming from Stan and Ollie, the statement rings of truth. In the work camp, things settle into the traditional Stan and Ollie mealtime gags. When they chop down the lookout's post it's another of those gags of anticipation which was such an integral part of their humor. And it's to their credit that most of the film is shot on location, something uncommonly problematic for the early sound technology of the late 20s. There is also something wistfully nostalgic about those Arcadian, windswept eucalyptus-lined locations of southern California, so unpopulated in 1929. Once they get involved in the creamed rice fight at the end, it descends into rather standard fare.