Sottozero

Below Zero (1930)

*** (out of 4)

Street musicians Laurel and Hardy find a wallet full of money in the street so they offer to take a policeman to dinner. After eating they discover that the wallet belongs to the cop. Here's an entertaining short, which doesn't rank as one of the duos best or funniest but it remains fun throughout.

Tiembla Y Titubea (1930)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Spanish version of Below Zero has the same storyline of the American version but this one here features a few additional scenes as well as an extended ending, which was cut from the American version. Like other Spanish L&H films, this here doesn't quite work because you can tell the two aren't really comfortable speaking Spanish. The added joke at the end however is the best gag and it's a shame it was cut from the American version.

Although the subject of this short is particularly grim, I find myself constantly drawn to it. It has a certain minimalist attraction...very little dialogue and no underscoring(probably because of it being a relatively early sound subject and also so as not interfere with the boy's own music-making), and bleak and austere snow-driven sets. Stan and Ollie truly become victims of their dire circumstances and it is only the bizarre physical distortion at the end(Laurel was quite fond of such endings) that takes us out of our reality and back into theirs.

Laurel and Hardy are busking on the cold streets during the cruel winter of 1929. They are making very little money out of it but there luck appears to change when they find a wallet loaded with cash. A thief tries to steal it from them but a kind policeman helps them out. In return for his help the duo take him for a big steak lunch.

This film starts quite well with the duo out in the cold playing music for cash. However the jokes are repeated even if a quite short period of time and this causes it to stall a little early on. The latter stages are funny and (although it is quite obvious) I didn't see the ending coming quite like it did! The snowball fights are amusing but just do go on for too long in my opinion.

The cast are good and feature quite a few Laurel and Hardy regulars. Laurel and Hardy themselves are good but Hardy overdoes his `looks to camera' by wasting them on minor things rather than holding them back for the bigger laughs. Laurel is good but has less to do.

Overall this is an enjoyable short in two parts – both of which are funny albeit one is easier to enjoy than the other.

BELOW ZERO

Aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white - Short film)

A pair of bumbling street musicians (Laurel and Hardy) find a wallet in the snow, leading to a series of comic complications.

James Parrott's wonderful comedy short opens with L&H playing 'In the Good Old Summertime' to unappreciative passers-by during a heavy snow storm, only to discover they've been performing on the most unprofitable street in the city (I won't spoil the gag by revealing it here)! H.M. Walker's inspired screenplay piles disaster upon disaster for our hapless heroes, culminating in a restaurant encounter with outraged cop Frank Holliday and no-nonsense restaurateur Tiny Sandford. Like so many of these early shorts, the movie amounts to a loose assortment of comic incidents rather than a cohesive narrative, but it works like a charm. Highlights include L&H's encounter with hatchet-faced Blanche Payson, who responds with violent abandon to an errant snowball, and a surreal ending which closes proceedings on a slightly cryptic note (modern viewers will have their own idea what Stan whispers into Ollie's ear during the closing moments!). Photographed with vivid intensity by future filmmaker George Stevens, BELOW ZERO is one of the highlights of L&H's illustrious career.

While not their funniest film, Below Zero is perhaps one of Laurel and Hardy's most artistic. The victims of depression in a snowstorm, there's even a touch of Chaplin in certain elements. The short is still heavily indebted to the silent era, and all the better for it, inspiring greater pathos. The first, and most successful, half of the film contains less than twenty lines in over ten minutes of running time.

Stan's completely gormless expression while playing the organ had me in stitches, as did the inanity of the music. His morbid fascination with the unfortunate and deformed sees them playing in front of a deaf and dumb institute and ending with his belly swollen and distended. In one of their most blatant displays of toilet humour, he also apparently mimes needing to go to the lavatory as the climax. Freudians would even have a field day with Ollie's phallic weapon, while there's also time for a joke about a blind man in there as well.

The second half sees them find a wallet in the street, and treat a helpful policeman to a slap-up meal with the proceeds. Despite this being one of the Laurel and Hardy movies with the most integrity, make no mistake: it is also highly amusing. There's even touches of surrealism with Stan's multi-pocketed wallet, and, while scant, some clever wordplay. Recommended.