Detetives Pensam?

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.

'Do Detectives Think?' is nowhere near classic Laurel and Hardy, later films, short and feature, had stronger chemistry when fully formed and used their considerable talents better. At this point, Laurel was much funnier and more interesting while Hardy in most of the previous outings had too little to do. 'Do Detectives Think?' is still worth watching though and is an improvement on some of their previous short films, along with 'Duck Soup', 'While Girls Love Sailors', 'Sailors, Beware!' and 'The Second Hundred Years' it was up there as among Laurel and Hardy's best up to this point.

Personally would have liked more sly wit that made their later entries better, though the slapstick does entertain and is timed well if a bit too far on the simplicity.

The story is a bit busy at times and both slight and formulaic.

Laurel however is very funny, and sometimes hilarious, like as was said for a few of his previous outings 'Do Detectives Think?' is worth seeing for him alone. Hardy is at least not wasted, and he does give one of his funniest and most interesting appearances of his pairings with Laurel up to this point despite his persona being not as fully formed as Laurel's. The chemistry is much more here than in previous outings of theirs if still evolving. Support is nice, especially from James Finlayson.

A good deal of the humour is well timed, hugely energetic and very funny, with everything going at a lively pace, and there is a lot of charm and good nature to keep one going. 'Do Detectives Think?' looks quite good and is more visually experimental than their previous efforts.

To conclude, decent. 7/10 Bethany Cox

To paraphrase the fellow, "even not very good Laurel and Hardy is still better than almost everything else". This early L&H silent is one of the first to show the boys as a team, that is, as pals in the same general situation, on the same side, rather than working against each other. Their personalities can be seen developing nicely: Ollie the bully, Stan in his shadow, with his instant crying; however, here Stan still maintains a bit more independence and aggressiveness and willingness to defy or even abandon Ollie than we will be used to seeing later on. The gags are too simplistic and predictable, so the film is not going to be a memorable one; however, it is always a joy to see the boys on the screen, no matter what they are doing.

To be honest, the funniest moments are enjoyed by James Finlayson; I laughed loudest when, in a sudden cut, Finlayson is seen sitting in his bathtub, his body and entire head completely covered with soap bubbles, with only his face showing through. And the water he is bathing in is, in certain shots, completely filthy and black. Very bizarre!

A quick note about Hardy's character's name, Sherlock Pinkham; while "Sherlock" is obvious, the name "Pinkham" seems more obscure. I assume this is meant to spoof the famous "Pinkerton" detectives of Civil War and post-Civil War fame.

Let us recognize this is L&H at the beginning of a process, one that would lead to a partnership that they themselves could never have imagined would captivate the world. Then we can enjoy this film for what it is, without being disappointed.

This is one of their faster shorts. Finlayson is a judge who sentences a murderer to death. The murderer promises to escape and murder the judge. He escapes forthwith. In a panic, Finlayson calls the police and begs them to send their two smartest detectives. Laurel and Hardy show up, but not before the killer has managed to enter the house and pose as the butler.

Some of the gags were later used by other writers -- Finlayson hiding by lowering himself beneath the bathwater only to accidentally pull the plug with his toe. If it was, in fact, copped from this short, it's because it's pretty funny.

The straight narrative is interrupted by a graveyard scene that's as amusing as anything else.

Judge James Finlayson's life has been threatened and indeed why would it not be threatened as he's a hardnosed law and order type who has just handed out a life sentence to some tough criminals. That gang hires the Slasher played by a creepy Noah Young to take vengeance on Finlayson.

This film may have been responsible for the adversarial relationship that Stan and Ollie enjoyed with Finlayson. The boys are the detectives that are sent by the local police to guard the life of the good judge.

The pattern of the characters of Stan and Ollie that we would get to know so well is forming here. Stan is the simpleton and he knows it, Ollie is the man who thinks he's a genius, but always falls way short. One thing Ollie is not is a marksman, a fact he proves by frightening everyone in the house with his shooting.

Future frenemies are formed here.

Although not the first "Official" L & H film,this was the first time the boys wore their celebrated bowler hats,an essential part of detectives' garb at the time.A bit frantic in places,DO DETECTIVES THINK? nevertheless presents us with the embryos that were to develop into the greatest comedy team in cinema history.Often mechanical,the film has lively supporting performances from James Finlayson and Noah Young,and still has very funny scenes,especially when Ollie(playing a character named Sherlock Pinkham!)is given two black eyes.Stan has the equally absurd character name of Ferdinand Finkleberry! Not their best short by a long short,but historically interesting.6 out of 10.