Le bon filon

LAUGHING GRAVY

Aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white - Short film)

During a heavy blizzard, boarding-house tenants Stan 'n' Ollie hide their dog from an unsympathetic landlord (Charley Hall) who threatens to evict them if they don't follow the rules. Chaos ensues...

Archetypal L&H comedy, played and filmed to perfection, as the boys' efforts to protect 'Laughing Gravy' meet with disaster at every turn. Ollie's attempts to get back into the house without being noticed by the sleeping landlord is only one of the film's many highlights, leading to a precarious rooftop episode (!) and a series of blunders and disasters. Fine comic timing, excellent set-pieces, great fun. Directed with typical gusto by L&H regular James W. Horne.

The film exists in three separate versions: It played theatrically as a two-reeler, following the elimination of a third reel in which Stan comes into an unexpected inheritance. This material has since been restored to a second version which omits the original's ending. A third edition - which appears to exist only in colorized form - contains ALL extant material, including the inheritance AND the original ending.

The humor of Laughing Gravy operates on the premises that 99% of the audience are pet lovers. Therefore anything that Stan and Ollie do to keep their little pooch Laughing Gravy from being tossed out to the elements of winter is absolutely justified. Even if landlord Charlie Hall has a no pet rule in his establishment.

And so most of the film is spent with them trying to get the little guy past the watchful eye of Hall. Remember this is the dead of winter with snow falling on the ground. Best moment in the film is poor Ollie in his nightshirt falling into a rain barrel partly frozen over. I get susceptible to pneumonia just looking at him.

The last part of the film also has Laurel getting $1000.00 inheritance from his uncle providing he severs all connection with Oliver Hardy who has held him back for years. Funny thing is that those are precisely the words Ollie said about Stan.

The World Court in The Hague would have a problem deciding on the merits of counter lawsuit has to who held back who. You be your own judge.

Stan and Ollie do prove that friendship can survive a lot.

This is a very typical Laurel & Hardy short. It's filled with some typical and very well executed slapstick humor. This is a great example of how a Laurel & Hardy movie should be.

It's no secret that Laurel & Hardy made their best picture together in the early '30's. This movie is definitely one of their greatest and most enjoyable ones.

The first halve of the movie is mostly filled with slapstick comedy. It's most definitely the best part of the movie. The comical slapstick moments are typical and amazingly funny, mostly due to the fact how well executed and timed they are. The second halve of the movie drags on for a bit too long and doesn't rely anymore so much on its slapstick and visual humor. If only the movie would had been about 10 minutes shorter, how great than it would had been. Not saying that it isn't great or enjoyable enough now but yet the movie had more potential of becoming truly one of the greatest or most memorable Laurel & Hardy shorts.

Their mishaps with Laughing Gravy the dog are funny and provide the movie with its best moments. Also good are the comical moments with the landlord played by Laurel & Hardy regular Charlie Hall, who of course doesn't like the boys having living a dog around in his house. Still it makes me wonder why they didn't gave James Finlayson the part and why didn't Arthur Houseman played the drunk in this one? I missed the both of them in this movie and I had the feeling that the movie would had been even a more fun one with them.

A near perfect slapstick comedy, that more or less falls short of greatness in its second halve, which prevent this movie from being the best or most memorable Laurel & Hardy comedy short but nevertheless it's one of their most fun and typical comedy shorts around.

8/10

http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This is probably one of the more well-known of Laurel & Hardy's shorts. I remember when I was a kid this one was shown all the time – although without that extra reel, which wasn't re-discovered until 1985. They don't seem to show Laurel & Hardy shorts on TV anymore which is a real shame; there's a whole generation growing up knowing little about the duo.

In this one they try to conceal their little dog Laughing Gravy (possibly the only dog in cinema history to have a film named after him rather than the other way around) from their pint-size landlord, the permanently grumpy Charlie Hall. Of course, they're unsuccessful and when the landlord pitches the dog out into the snow, Ollie braves the elements to smuggle it back in. As always, the boys complicate things by attempting to haul Ollie up the side of the building using a couple of sheets tied together – with inevitable results. Although the snow is obviously fake and the location is a set, the film really does succeed in making you feel the cold as the boys slide around on the roof in their nightshirts.

There isn't that much dialogue in this film – or at least in the first twenty minutes – nearly all the humour is physical, punctuated by a number of long despairing looks into the camera from Ollie. Stan stares at the camera too on occasion, but you can tell there isn't much going on inside his character's head. He looks at the camera and you can almost hear the cogs creaking as they turn.

The laughs are pretty solid and arrive at fairly regular intervals until that final reel when things change entirely. It's not difficult to see why it was cut from the original because it just bears no relation to the rest of the film other than the fact that it is a protracted build up to a decent punch-line involving the dog.

The boys rent an apartment from Charley Hall, who always seems to be angry. They take in a dog and call him Laughing Gravy. Of course, there is a "no dogs allowed" policy in the place and this puts the crabby landlord to the test. Stan and Ollie try so hard to keep the dog without disturbing the landlord (actually without letting on that the dog is there). This leads to incredible physical demands on the two guys, who even end up on the roof at one time. It's touching to see how much they care, but they are not very wise in their choices of action. This is another one of those episodes which are shown over and over. I guess there are lots of dog lovers.