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As an avowed Laurel and Hardy fan, I must say that Big Business falls into a special category all its own. I find the simple, deliberate nature of it immensely appealing. There is something downright innocent about the long-lost freshness of those semi-developed streets of Culver City and environs on that sunny December morning in ‘28 and they add a quality of mise-en-scene which was surely never foreseen back then. The snowballing reciprocal destruction starts innocently enough: an errant branch of Christmas tree--that symbol of peace and goodwill to men--gets caught in Jimmy Finlayson's front door once too often…and ends up with extensive property damage on both sides. But each step in the progressively destructive game is almost reasonable…its just when one contrasts point A with point Z that the absurdity, and the comedy, of the situation is so apparent. Produced on the cusp of the talkies, Big Business is also a sort of frantic paean to a lost art. And, in a strange way, unlike so many of their other films, Stan and Ollie are triumphant as they run from officer Tiny Sanford into the fade out. For as Jimmy lights up his exploding cigar, they are the ones lucky enough to have gotten in their last licks. In spite of losing the battle, they have won the war. One can almost smell the fragrance of pine needles intermingling with the stench of burning Model T

Thus far, my only experience with Laurel and Hardy has been their talkies; I wondered how I would fare with their silent comedy, that era of cinema being virtually unknown to me. I needn't have worried: such is the comedic excellence of the bowler-hatted duo that they're more than capable of reducing the viewer to fits of giggles without the need for dialogue.

Big Business is an example of what is known to L&H fans as 'Reciprocal Destruction', wherein the pair engage in tit-for-tat violence with an irate stranger, in this case, a homeowner (played by regular L&H co-star James Finlayson) who isn't pleased with the guys' Christmas tree salesmanship. It starts off slowly, with minor damage inflicted on the homeowner's property after he takes a pair of cutters to one of Stan and Ollie's trees. The level of damage gradually escalates, the homeowner dismantling L&H's Model T Ford, while the comedic pals trash the man's house - all under the watchful and bemused gaze of a local policeman.

Magnificently absurd and brilliantly performed by the three leads, Big Business gets big laughs as matters spiral out of control: Stan and Ollie's facial expressions are priceless and the physicality of their comedy is superb. 7.5/10, rounded up to 8 for IMDb.

*XMAS SPOILERS*

One of The Boys' funniest silent films, 'Big Business' contains their trademark Reciprocating Destruction theme. Irascible James Finlayson's temper and Stanley's oblivious ineptitude light the fuse to a battle that starts with a broken tree branch and ends with the total destruction of a Model T and the partial destruction of a Culver City bungalow.

It's a sheer delight to watch The Boys and Fin deliberately, and with malice aforethought, find new ways to inflict indignities upon each others' property. Fin cuts up the Christmas tree they were trying to sell, Stanley takes a pen knife and carves the wood off Fin's door frame. From there, we build to a crescendo of Stanley pulling up shrubs and hurling them through windows and Ollie methodically potholing the yard with a shovel, while Fin dances on the rubble that used to be The Boys' delivery truck. The neighbors gather on the sidewalk, unsure what to make of the melee; even the neighborhood cop is too stunned to step in and break it up.

This is a sport at which Laurel & Hardy excelled, and at which they can be seen again in the all-out wardrobe assault of 'Hats Off' and the freeway free-for-all of 'Two Tars', possibly their greatest Reciprocating Destruction movie.

This is a movie you should definitely buy.

BIG BUSINESS

Aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Sound format: Silent

(Black and white - Short film)

A minor dispute between two Christmas tree salesmen (Laurel and Hardy) and an irate customer (James Finlayson) escalates into massive mutual destruction.

The first collaboration between L&H and veteran comedy director James Horne is a masterpiece of its kind, in which two bickering salesmen become involved in a war of attrition with bad-tempered customer Finlayson (an invaluable member of the L&H universe). The escalation of conflict is joyously contrived (Finlayson reduces The Boys' car to spare parts, and they do the same to his house), and the pay-off - in which the entire cast is reduced to tears! - is no less satisfactory. Legend has it that the filmmakers accidentally destroyed the wrong house, after hiring the one next door...

With non-stop zany laughs, "Big Business" is one of the very best Laurel & Hardy short comedies. It's pure lowbrow, slapstick humor, but it's done with perfect pacing and timing, and it's impossible to watch it without laughing.

It builds up gradually, beginning with Stan and Ollie going door-to-door trying unsuccessfully to sell Christmas trees, and soon leading to a wild fracas with irritated homeowner James Finlayson. This 'tit-for tat' premise was later the basis for a couple of their best sound comedies, with Charlie Hall instead of Finlayson (Hall also has a bit part in this one), but the idea works even better in a silent film like this, since there is no need for dialogue that might slow down the madcap antics. Tiny Sandford also provides some funny moments as a policeman observing the battle.

This is slapstick at its best, and anyone who enjoys these old comedies should make this a must-see.