Laurel et Hardy bricoleurs

Mr. Hardy is failing to raise a radio antenna on his house's roof, and Mr. Laurel is helping him do that. Fail, that is.

Fay Holderness plays Oliver's wife in this short, and she's a very good actress..... but not the least funny in the role, only mildly exasperated. Meanwhile Stan and Ollie are risking life and limb, falling off roofs and so forth. It's another series of perfectly timed variations on a theme of destruction, where the boys are 90% of the movie, and Miss Holderness is there for a couple of reaction shots....and Dorothy Granger for her legs.

Oliver is having memory problems and is losing stuff which causes a fight with his wife. In a strop she demands he put up the aerial so her radio can pick up stations from Japan. Stan comes round and is enticed by the chance to hear Japan that he offers to help put the aerial up on the roof. However with two men on the job the chances of accidents doubles!

After a seemingly pointless and confusing start this short settles down to be a very enjoyable film that has good routines that sound basic but are very well executed and are, more importantly, very funny. The opening title card talks about Hardy losing his memory and Laurel never having had one to lose. There is then a short scene where hardy can't find his hat and then the whole amnesia thing is forgotten as the film moves to the aerial plot. It gets much better at this point and is very funny.

Although really it is simply a list of ways for one of the characters to fall down - it is done well and some of the bits are clever. The final sequence of the film is the best and must have been the most difficult to film. As always it is the delivery of the lead duo who make the material work (and last over decades). They do sterling work here – as always my favourite is Hardy. In this short more than others you can see him when he jumps up in frustration and points his fingers into the air – it reminds me so much of modern characters (such as George from Seinfeld) and it shows what an influence they have had.

Although on paper this doesn't sound that inspired I assure you that, if you enjoy the comedy of Laurel and Hardy, that you'll find much to enjoy here. But even if you are yet to discover them this is a fine example of their talents before they progressed from shorts into features.

After a painfully dull opening joke about a misplaced hat, HOG WILD turns out to be one of the best Laurel and Hardy shorts, in a brief amount of time able to spotlight all of the silly ingredients that made them so popular in the '30s.

Stan comes upon Oliver climbing a ladder to install a radio aerial at the request of his wife who wants to hear Japan.

Stan asks if he can help and from then on the film is one slapstick situation after another, with Oliver getting the worst of the deal and giving the camera his special glance of despair.

The rooftop happenings are funny enough but the finale with Oliver inadvertently being carried away by Stan's car while he's atop a ladder gives the ending a funny twist and some unexpected situations.

Summing up: Easily qualifies as one of their best shorts.

Hog Wild concerns Hardy, who wants nothing more than to go out on the town with Laurel until his wife insists that he install a radio antenna atop their roof. Hardy still winds up inviting Laurel over to help him with such a project, which will of course go awry in a multitude of different ways. For starters, the roof begins to fall apart due to the carelessness of the men, and eventually results in an epic (for the time), collision, sending the boys into a complete tailspin of idiocy.

Hog Wild is standard slapstick Laurel and Hardy fare, but it provides for a certain kind of "one thing leads to another" setup that keeps it going longer than if it was just an assortment of gags (which it still is at times). The verbal banter between the two men is downplayed, and the only real kind of situational gag imposed is at the very beginning of the film, where Hardy is searching for his hat that he is scolding his wife (Fay Holderness) for misplacing when it is already on his head. Certain gags like this feel like cop-outs and deliberate distractions from the fact that the film has nothing going on under its head (sort of like Laurel and Hardy themselves).

The short turns a bit more captivating towards the end, when all hell really starts breaking loose. Laurel and Hardy shorts have a traditional potboiler effect to their drama, where events escalate faster than the audience can keep up in the best way possible. Hog Wild has that effect in a low-key sense, making it at least marginally interesting even if the action and the wit isn't as substantial as it could be. This is a fine, effective short all around, despite lacking in the area that Laurel and Hardy are best in, which is verbal banter and quirky exchanges.

Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, and Fay Holderness.

This is not Laurel and Hardy's best effort, but even a script that was developed during a break in shooting is performed better than other comedians doing a competent script. Only Laurel and Hardy could have made this material funny.