Les bons petits diables

The 'Brats' of the title are mini-Laurel and mini-Hardy, working with over-sized props to give the impression of kids into everything from a bathtub to a wooden chest of drawers.

We find their dads playing a game of draughts (with suitable cheating) while the sons cause havoc and noise. After they are banished upstairs, the kids manage to half-wreck the place and set up a predictable, but still funny, pay-off.

For the facial reactions, the clever set-ups, and Mr Hardy's singing (trying in vain to get the tots to sleep), 'Brats' scores high on the comedy list. There's genuinely good stuff in this short.

Whilst the quite well known 'Our Relations' is the main feature on DVD 5 in the Complete box set, I actually think that much shorter 'Brats' has more of the pair's classic slapstick than the others and is funnier.

'Brats' has Ollie & Stan creating havoc around and on a pool table, whilst the brats in question are two little boys (impish Stan & Ollie again) with everything, including the furniture made much bigger to make them appear small. At one point an animated mouse appears to have been drawn onto the film's negatives, the creature being on Ollie's back whilst Laurel gets a gun to shoot it off. The tiny pair then take a massive bath that overflows, disastrously (of course) then they undertake a boxing match - Stan flailing about with huge boxing gloves always looks funny. Adult Ollie then sings them a lullaby that goes on to sound more like an opera!

I have to give credit to the people who ran the Laurel and Hardy productions; they were quite creative. In one episode the guy's play their own sisters. In this one they play their children as well as the adults. This called for scenes to include furniture and props much bigger than normal. It comes off very well. Of course little Stannie is as big an idiot as his father and the same for the other "little" guy. Of course, they get into big trouble by doing exactly the kinds of things their adult halves would do. There are some really nice scenes of high slapstick. The ending is great. By the way, the wives are away. They are out doing target practice.

With their wives out for the night, Laurel and Hardy are left to look after their sons. However, not having enough trouble simply trying to enjoy their games of draughts and pool, the two children are just as much of a handful as their dads.

As with many of their best shorts, the plot here is simple and allows for several extended sequences around the same theme. Here we have several good sequences – none of which would make the short it itself but together they work. The gimmick (for that is what it is) of Laurel and Hardy also playing their sons works quite well – although in the scenes where the adults and children are separate it doesn't really matter who is who as it's very much a case of `like father like son'.

The sequences are nothing you haven't seen before but the delivery of them is good and the short doesn't really dip more than once. That `once' is where Hardy sings. I enjoy his voice and always liked the features where he got more of a chance to sing a proper song, however here it goes on for a little longer than it should. The punch line is good but I really had hoped for more. Because it had been built up for about 3 minutes before it actually arrives I had been pumped up and then was a bit deflated by the actual delivery – but this was a minor flaw as I found the majority to be of their usual standard.

As adults or kids Laurel and Hardy are great. In all honesty there is no significant difference between their delivery as kids or adults but this doesn't matter. This is a fine example of their abilities as the two of them are the only people in the film – they carry the film and hold 100% of screen time. I know this must sound easy in a 20 minutes short but I feel that it only appears easy because they make it all look so effortless.

Overall this may be a little gimmicky but it works very well. I am probably a little jaded seeing adults playing kids etc in one form or another in recent movies but here the film moves past the gimmick and delivers classic Laurel and Hardy – just in two separate strands which come together in a flood of chuckles by the end.

One of the better Laurel & Hardy comedy short movies I have seen, 'Brats' stars only Stanley Laurel and Oliver Hardy. They play Stan and Ollie and their sons. Both wives are out and now they have to take care of the children. While the children play the two adults play a game of checkers, with Laurel easily winning. After the children fight over and over again the kids are send to bed, but there their arguments continue. The fathers play a game of pool in the meanwhile.

This is a very creative short, with lots of big laughs. The scenes with the children have some very large furniture so the actors look smaller. For that reason alone this short is recommended, but fortunately there are more reasons, including those big laughs I mentioned. A very good comedy short, highly recommended.