Le bateau hanté

Watching THE LIVE GHOST I was reminded of how this short resembles very many other L&H shorts . This isn`t meant as a criticism in any way but it`s remarkable how many other films feature Stan and Ollie fishing , we see them do the same in BONNIE SCOTLAND and MURDER CASE and a few other of their laugh fests . Does anyone know if these two comedy greats were obsessed with fishing in real life ?

THE LIVE GHOST also shows the duo are at their funniest when Stan plays the hysterical coward who sadly deludes himself if he goes running to Ollie he might able to do something which a big mistake since Ollie plays an arrogant and hypocritical coward lecturing Stan that there`s nothing be afraid of . The script telegraphs what the pay of is going to be ( Not to mention the title ) with Stan running around squeling EEEE - EEEE - EEEE , Ollie howling OOOOHHH - OOOOOOHHH - OOOOHHH and this reviewer going Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha

The supporting cast of Long , Busch and Housman more or less play the parts that they do in all the other L&H shorts ( Again not a criticism ) so when all is said and done this is certainly one of the most typical short features with Stan and Ollie so is certainly worth watching

A LAUREL & HARDY Comedy Short. After helping a conniving captain kidnap seamen for his ship, Stan & Ollie end up shanghaied themselves. The trouble really starts, however, when the Boys accidentally `kill' one of their cabin mates. Dumping the body overboard, they are terrified to see THE LIVE GHOST stalking the decks.

Lots of laughs in this little film. Watching the Boys' reactions when they see the `ghost' is hilarious. That's Mae Busch as the captain's girlfriend.

When the L&H Fan Club "The Sons of the Desert" was formed in the early 1960's, Stan, who had sustained a crippling stroke, nevertheless gave his blessing to the formation of the club and supplied the motto for it, which I have repeated above. (Another of his witticisms which I like is "You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead").

Theo Robertson in his comment above wondered whether either of the boys were fishermen. I don't believe Hardy was but Laurel in his younger days was a keen big game fisherman and fished regularly off Catalina Island for swordfish or marlin. Catalina Island, Theo, is about an hour boat trip from Los Angeles, for your information. He loved the water and had his own boat in those days.

In 1962 I visited Stan at his apartment in the Oceana Hotel in Santa Monica. A wonderful experience and a fond memory for this writer. One question I asked him was about Walter Long, the villain of villains in many of their films. His reply was that surprisingly, Long was one of the mildest men he had ever known and absolutely would not hurt a fly. That came as a big surprise for me.

This Laurel & Hardy film makes great use of some their best regular supporting actors: Walter Long, Charlie Hall, Mae Busch and Arthur Housman. I don't know whether it gets enough often mentioned, but part of the hilarity of Stan's and Ollie's films are owed to these supporting actors too. For it is them who also become familiar to the viewer and therefore form an essential part of their humour in general. Knowing how tough guy Walter Long always is, you laugh twice as much at him than usual when you see that he does not care a bit when Stan hits his head with a pan. Another familiar laughing "bonus" is got from Charlie Hall's sadism and Housman plays again the drunk. Mae West's domina voice always guarantees you a freezing effect down at your stomach.

The film itself makes moderate use of the concepts laughter and fear. Hijacking crew into haunted ship is funny in itself too, but the Ghost that Stan & Ollie accidentally evoke crowns the whole show. This one definitely belongs into very essential Laurel & Hardy. It is a very pleasant viewing for both master and student.

No one wants to ship on skipper Walter Long's ship. They all say it's haunted, and he gets violent whenever anyone repeats that. He pays Laurel and Hardy a dollar a head for helping him shanghai hands.... and then shanghais them. Add in Mae Busch as a waterfront floozie and you've got a good comedy.

Walter Long was the actor for the Boys whenever they wanted a real tough. He seems to have priced himself out of their market soon after this. A veteran of more than 200 features and shorts from 1910, he died on Independence Day in 1952 at the age of 73.