Procura-se um Marido

Oliver and Stanley own and run a barbershop. When Stanley sees an advertisement for male company from a rich woman he tells Ollie and they both write letters. Ollie posts his but hides Stanley. When the woman sees Oliver's letter she plans to take revenge on him for her first love – also Oliver – who broke her heart, just as she has killed seven other Olivers before. Oliver and Stan arrive assuming that they have it made but begin to suspect something afoot.

Can I ever get enough Laurel and Hardy? Probably not! This entry starts really well and is very funny despite tailing off a bit in the final 10 minutes or so. The opening is classic banter between the two men and with some really funny lines and the invisible food etc is all good. However the ending is more physical comedy that doesn't work as well as what went before. And the ending is a real cop out and just felt like they ran out of ideas for what to do next.

The two leads are very funny no matter what and are at their best when exchanging equally foolish dialogue. Barty is OK as Jitters but the whole `invisible' card thing didn't really grab me. Likewise no-one could accuse Busch of giving a subtle, comic or measured performance and just goes all out to leave the audience in no doubt as to her character.

Overall this is still funny but the ending didn't work very well for me and the last 5 odd minutes suffered in the same way. But for the most part I was laughing out loud and was happy to see service as normal.

A LAUREL & HARDY Comedy Short. Ollie agrees to marry a wealthy widow - not realizing she's a homicidal maniac. She has a curious habit of finding men named "Oliver" and then slitting their throats the night before the wedding. She's killed seven times already; now she plans on making OLIVER THE EIGHTH victim. Locked in her mansion of death, the Boys are in for a night of comic terror...

This little film is somewhat of a change of pace for the Boys, but it's very funny and they lampoon its Gothic mood quite nicely. Mae Busch is lots of fun as the widow.

You can never go wrong when you throw in some mystery or a haunted house, especially with Laurel and Hardy. And don't forget legendary Mae Busch. A silly takeoff (in name only) to THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY THE EIGHTH, released the same year.

Hardy gets mixed up with murderess Mae, whose last seven husbands were all named "Oliver." Only he doesn't know it --YET. Jack Barty, who worked with Stan Laurel in silent films, appears as Mae's eccentric butler, playing with an invisible deck of cards? There's also a funny scene with the boys being served dinner with empty glasses and plates, pretending to enjoy a hearty meal. Their next stop is to sleep in a creepy bedroom --waiting for Mae to enter to cut Ollie's throat!

Best bit is a "technical" gag scene where Hardy has to keep Stan awake. It involves a burning candle, a brick and a string. Where Hardy got the brick remains a mystery. Ollie rolls the string around the brick and hooks it above the candle. Next, Stan has to keep moving the string -- or else the string will burn and the brick will hit him on the head. Get it? Of course, Ollie gets whacked. His facial expressions throughout this film are priceless, let alone his moans and groans after nearly being shot.

On a sad note, Stan's brother, nicknamed "Teddy," died suddenly during filming. Teddy worked briefly as a film actor in the 1920s, but gave it up. In a bizarre accident, he died of a heart attack at the dentists office while being given laughing gas.

This film was co-written by Jack Barty, who also added dialogue to Laurel and Hardy's previous film, SONS OF THE DESERT.

Remastered dvd box set, both in black and white and in color. Thanks much to METV Plus for running these golden oldies every day. Also MOVIES Net on Saturday mornings.

When Oliver Hardy reads a newspaper advertisement about a young, wealthy widow who's looking for a husband, he applies. Stan wanders along. Little do they know until it's too late, that the young widow has married and killed seven husbands named Oliver already and that, even worse, its Mae Busch.

Miss Busch was born in Australia, moved with her parents to America as a child, and went on stage. By 1912, she had made her first movie. By the end of the decade, known as 'the Versatile Vamp' and prized by comedy directors for her aim with crockery, she was starring in dramas and comedies. She is best remembered, however, for her 15 appearances with Laurel and Hardy, from 1927 through 1936. She died in 1946 at age 54.

Stan and Ollie decide it's time to get married, especially since a rich widow is advertising for a husband. Stan writes a letter, but Ollie hides it under his hat so it never goes out. When they get to her mansion, Jitters, the butler, explains how there have been seven husbands already, all dead, all named Oliver. Of course, they end up trapped in the place and she is on the prowl with a very large knife. What follows is an effort to get out of there. Everything they can manage is used in the process. Stanley manages to screw things up time and time again. The ending is a little pat, but it doesn't matter because the whole thing is hilarious. Jack Barty as Jitters and Mae Busch as the grieving widow are some of the best of the supporting casts that have embraced these L & H films. Jitters is especially nutty with his magic tricks.