Ospiti inattesi

SCRAM!

Aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white - Short film)

Ordered out of town by an aggressive judge (Richard Cramer), two vagrants (Laurel and Hardy) become involved with a drunken motorist (Arthur Housman) who invites them home. Unfortunately, he takes them to the wrong house...

Brilliantly constructed short film, directed by Raymond McCarey and scripted by H.M. Walker, in which L&H fall foul of the same judge on two separate occasions, with hilarious (and painful) consequences. Cast alongside some of the best comic actors of the day (Housman is note-perfect in his signature role, while Cramer plays it straight as the no-nonsense judge), L&H ply their trade with consummate skill, and the scene in which co-star Vivien Oakland gets blind drunk and sets off a chain reaction of uproarious laughter is a joy. Wonderful stuff, a highlight of L&H's distinguished career.

I have seen all the films of L & H sometimes over and over. There are some weak shorts, but this is the one I keep coming back to to watch repeatedly. It is, in MHO, one of a handful of the best of their work in shorts.

It is brilliantly planned, masterfully timed, perfectly acted, and expertly edited. I often tell folks who are not familiar with the boys to watch this one as their introduction to the boys. It is THAT funny.

One of my favorite things about it is watching perpetually drunk Arthur Houseman utter what appear to be ad-libs that almost crack up Stan and Babe.

The boys have stood up Arthur and are going through his pockets trying to find the key to his house. He has a lot of pockets to go through. After a moment he tells Ollie, "Someday I'm gonna have all my pockets indexed." Cracks me up every time.

Vivian Okland is unforgettable as the judge's wife.

It was a sign of the boys generosity as actors that allows supporting players to get as many laughs as they get. They are the stars but not the only funny people in this.

Scram finds Laurel&Hardy being told to Scram, as in scram out of town. Judge Richard Cramer who has no tolerance for drunks and vagrants tells them to get out of town after they've been caught sleeping on a park bench.

In 1932 that would have gotten a lot of sympathy from the movie audience as it seemed about half the country had similar sleeping quarters. Still this judge is a mean one.

Fortunately they find an amiable drunk in Arthur Housman whom they help in true Stan and Ollie fashion break into his house and he invites them to spend the night out of the rain. In breaking in there are a whole treasure trove of gags.

Once in the lady of the house is not thrilled with their presence.

All I can say there is heed the words of Paul Newman who says it is best to use gin when drinking with a mark in The Sting. Water in a gin bottle is most effective. But in this case it's gin in a water jug. Also effective.

The last gag is the end to a perfect evening for Stan and Ollie.

A most timely Prohibition era short subject.

The Laurel and Hardy short Scram! feels less like a new skit from the lovable and timeless comedy duo but a highlight reel of their most famous moments from all of their shorts. This particular short is packed with all the zaniness you can predict going into a Laurel and Hardy film, from repeated stumbles, difficulty getting sneaking into places, and a seriously deranged mix-up serving as the cherry on the sundae.

Scram! opens with Laurel and Hardy being ordered out of town by a judge after finding them sleeping on a park bench. In the process of leaving town, they run into a congenial drunk (Arthur Housman, who plays a wildly convincing drunk) who invites them back to his home to spend the night after they retrieved his key when it fell into a sewer. Despite being incoherent, the man manages to drive the two of them to the home of Mrs. Beaumont (Vivien Oakland), mistaking it for his own home. While the drunk mindlessly stands outside searching for the key to his home, Laurel and Hardy barge in through the window, being greeted with Mrs. Beaumont and proceeding to get drunk themselves when they inform her they know her husband, who happens to really be someone Laurel and Hardy have already found themselves acquainted with.

Scram! is all too familiar for a dedicated Laurel and Hardy fan, especially one who has seen their admittedly short range of physical comedy. All the aforementioned tropes make an appearance here or there, and their geniality could easily be mistaken for genuine humor. The moral of this particular short is just because you recognize the sight-gag or the ploy doesn't mean it's necessarily funny. If anything, the funniest part of the film is how much it got away with in 1932: drunk driving, breaking and entering, philandering, and two men in the same bed with one woman. Did the Motion Picture Association of America fall asleep when looking over the contents of the film making sure it was in line with the Hays Code?

Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Arthur Housman, Vivien Oakland, and Richard Cramer. Directed by: Ray McCarey.

This is a "vintage" Stan and Ollie film in more than one sense of the word as four of the five main characters in the story are innebriated for a large portion of the proceedings.

Token Hollywood drunk Arthur Houseman (an...ahem...method actor) is at his career best, and the boys are also on form. Watch for Stan's bewildered reply to the judge's question: "On what grounds?". It's a classic.

Richard Cramer is truly menacing as the judge, and the scenes featuring the judge's wife (played by Vivien Oakland) made me laugh out loud along with the characters.

8/10