Les rois de la gaffe

Sorry if I`m hurting anyone`s feelings but this is one of the weakest of the L&H shorts . My problem with it is not so much a threadbare plot but the set-up and the coincidence of the husband arriving home at that precise point . Like science fiction comedy relies on sincere credibilty for it to work and sincere credibilty is in short supply when Stan and Ollie sit in a bar when they should be getting the first train out of town . Wouldn`t you in the same circumstance ? And the flaws in the script aren`t helped by the very stagey performances of the supporting cast .

That said both Stan and Ollie greatly rise above the material on display and do give very good slapstick performances with the telephone scene and the duel working simply because L&H have the greatest chemistry of any comedy duo that have ever lived . Even when the scripts aren`t very good Stan and Ollie can still bring a grin to my face

Six out of ten

This one takes the basic idea of a neglected wife pretending to have a lover to make her husband jealous from Slipping Wives, a 1927 silent short that Laurel & Hardy both appeared in, although not as a comedy team, but it quickly departs at a tangent. The neglected wife here is Mae Busch, in a more sympathetic role than usual as the neglected wife in question. Her husband is Charles Middleton, a frequent foe of the boys who, rather than brimming with gratitude to Ollie for showing him how neglectful he had been, challenges him to a pistol duel.

The story is a bit daft, and it's true that this isn't one of Stan & Ollie's stronger shorts, but those two only have to appear on screen to make us smile. They sell greeting cards in this one, and Stan is the writer of such gems as 'A Merry Christmas, husband, a happy New Years nigh, I wish you Easter Greetings, hooray for the fourth of July.' 'We call that our four-in-one,' Ollie advises the unhappy wife.

THE FIXER UPPERS

Aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white - Short film)

Stan 'n' Ollie are hired to 'seduce' a desperate housewife (Mae Busch) who wants to inspire a jealous reaction from her uncaring husband (Charles Middleton). However, the plan backfires when Middleton determines to take deadly revenge against these 'home-wreckers'...

Lively stuff from L&H's glory days, a reworking of their silent short SLIPPING WIVES (1927), played to the hilt by a note-perfect cast, and constructed with just the right amount of tact and discretion by director Charles Rogers. A formidable presence in so many films of the era, Middleton - later to star as 'Emperor Ming' in the "Flash Gordon" serials - plays the villain with deadly seriousness (complete with silent movie mannerisms and exaggerated indignation), which renders proceedings all the more amusing, while L&H blunder their way into trouble at every turn. Watch out for the memorable diner sequence, which includes Stan's famous response to a ringing telephone.

MAE BUSCH is having domestic problems with her husband, CHARLES MIDDLETON, and comes up with a scheme to get him back by making him jealous. She uses Christmas card salesman OLIVER HARDY as the man but things go wrong when Middleton not only becomes jealous but threatens to kill Hardy in a shooting duel.

STAN LAUREL steals the show in his usual bumbling way and ARTHUR HOUSMAN comes close to doing some scene-stealing of his own as a drunken neighbor.

It's foolish stuff, of course, typical of the sort of scrapes Laurel and Hardy were famous for, their Christmas card greetings written by Stan being both dismal and daffy.

Middleton is excellent as the villain of the piece, playing his part without a trace of humor in order to make him the fearsome character he is as Busch's jealous hubby.

Good for a few laughs, but definitely not one of the duo's best.

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.

Didn't find 'The Fixer Uppers' one of the duo's best, one of their lesser ones actually from this period from personal opinion. In a filmography that was mostly solid to classic (only '45 Minutes from Hollywood' misfired for me but that was very early on when their partnership and style hadn't formed or evolved and when Hardy especially was not being used well), nonetheless it is still good and has much of what makes Laurel and Hardy's work as appealing as it is.

'The Fixer Uppers' story is threadbare and more problematic is how daftly credibility-straining and heavy in coincidence it is.

Also found it a bit of a slow-starter with a draggy first third where there is a little too much talk for my liking.

However, 'The Fixer Uppers' is nonetheless very funny, especially the boys' reactions (notably Hardy's). It is rarely dull, going at a snappy pace, and there is energy in the slapstick and sly wit, silly and typical of the duo but in an endearing and entertaining way. The second half is much better, livelier in pace and chockfull of beautifully timed gags and wit.

Both Laurel and Hardy are on top form, especially Laurel. They are equally funny with impeccable comic timing physically and verbally, this is not a case of one being funnier and having more screen time than the other (in their early efforts Laurel tended to be funnier and better used). Their chemistry is legendary for a reason and it is obvious here. The supporting cast are up to their level, as scene stealing as Arthur Houseman is as a drunk and amusing Mae Busch is it is fearsome Charles Middleton who comes off the best. 'The Fixer Uppers' visually looks good and the direction is never too busy or static.

In summary, good but not great. 7/10 Bethany Cox