Laurel et Hardy constructeurs

This has got to be one of Laurel & Hardy's funniest silent comedies. They play a pair of labourers hired by a desperate builder to fit windows to a house. This would be difficult enough for the boys, but an added complication is the fact that the house is directly opposite a hospital, meaning that they must try to carry out their duties in near silence.

There are some beautiful sight gags in this one: Stan looking around in bewilderment for a pail he has inadvertently hooked onto the end of his shovel, Stan (again) carrying both ends of an improbably large plank, and Stan (yet again) attempting to saw a plank with a wobbly saw. It's real schoolboy stuff, I know, but it still had me howling with laughter. Edgar Kennedy, master of the slow-burn, plays the hapless cop whose attempts to ensure the boys keep quiet prove futile. The name of the nurse who thinks nothing of using a few well-aimed punches in order to keep the peace escapes me, but she's pretty cute. Be sure to see this one if you get the chance.

Less than a year after they were teamed the boys had already hit their stride with this little gem. The emphasis here is particularly on slapstick as a succession of hilarious sight gags eventually culminate in the inevitable orgy of destruction.

This is Laurel & Hardy the way most people like to remember them: as day laborers in denim, hard at work on a construction project which is, of course, doomed. Here they are "finishers" who have promised a homeowner they can complete work on his house for $500. The house happens to be located near a hospital, so a cop and tough nurse must persuade the boys to work quietly. Within this loose framework of a plot the guys are free to wreak havoc on the house, the cop, the nurse, and each other.

The Finishing Touch was made early in the L&H partnership, and is enjoyable if you're in the mood for basic slapstick knockabout. There are a lot of great gags here, but somehow this slapstick lacks the deft assurance -- the finesse, if you will -- of their later films with similar setups, such as Hog Wild or Busy Bodies. As contradictory as it sounds, the boys became more expert at portraying ineptitude as they "matured." Later on, too, at least in their best work, the gags seemed to occur spontaneously; here, some of the material feels rather forced. Prime example: Ollie repeatedly swallows a handful of nails due to his insistence on carrying them in his mouth. Now, even in low comedy, you need a more plausible set-up than that. Does any builder carry nails around in his mouth? Having swallowed one mouthful, would he do it again? Ollie is too dumb here. This is the sort of flaw one expects to find in their much later movies from the '40s, when the team was being mishandled by unsympathetic studio hacks. Laurel & Hardy should be simple and childlike, but not moronic.

Mr. Laurel comes off best in this film, getting lots of mileage out of his magnificently blank expression. He has two especially nice bits: first, when his awkward attempt to hoist a window frame into position results in the frame gradually falling to pieces; and next, when he frightens himself into believing he's lost one of his fingers. Stan could do so much with moments like that.

Also on the plus side, The Finishing Touch offers the sparkling cinematography of George Stevens, as well as several estimable supporting players: Dorothy Coburn as The Tough Nurse, Edgar Kennedy as The Ineffectual Cop, and Sam Lufkin as The Very Unhappy Homeowner. Lufkin figures prominently in the film's spirited finale, when it becomes clear that, despite assurances, the house is not "built like Gibraltar." Lufkin tries to retrieve the paycheck he's given the boys, but they fend him off with ingenuity and vigor. It's the best scene in the picture, a warm-up for the crazed Grab-the-Deed routine in L&H's 1937 masterpiece Way Out West, and a delight to watch.

THE FINISHING TOUCH, a silent short featuring Laurel & Hardy and shot in 1928, features one of my favourite gags ever put on film: Ollie insists on carrying a handful of nails in his mouth, with predictable results. Yes, it's entirely silly and doesn't even get close to realistic, but nevertheless the execution and acting on the part of Hardy make this one of the funniest things I've seen.

Elsewhere, THE FINISHING TOUCH is a very good effort from the twosome. As in all of their best plots, they play a couple of workmen, here trying to build a 'dream home'; what transpires will surprise nobody. The gags are laboured, occasionally forced, and of the most basic slapstick, and yet they work, and work, and work. The only downside is that this is a silent, so it misses all of the crashing sound effects that would have added immeasurably to the experience.

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.

While not classic Laurel and Hardy, later films, short and feature, had stronger chemistry when fully formed and used their considerable talents better, 'The Finishing Touch' is a lot of fun. Before, Laurel was much funnier and more interesting while Hardy in most of the previous outings had too little to do. 'The Finishing Touch', along with 'Leave Em Laughing', is one of their first very good efforts, to me it's easily one of their best at this point of their careers and one of the first to feel like a Laurel and Hardy short rather than a short featuring them.

'The Finishing Touch' does take a little too long to get going perhaps.

Also found that the ending was on the slightly clumsy side.

Laurel however is very funny, and sometimes hilarious. It is wonderful seeing Hardy having more to do and he is on Laurel's level and actually even funnier. The chemistry is certainly much more here than in previous outings of theirs, namely because there's more of them together and it was starting to feel like a partnership. Support is nice, particularly from Dorothy Coburn.

A good deal of the humour is well timed, hugely energetic and very funny if not always hilarious, with everything going at a lively pace and there is a lot of charm and good nature to keep one going. 'The Finishing Touch' looks quite good still.

In summary, a lot of fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox