Prenez garde au lion

Laurel and Hardy are working at the circus as a pantomime horse. When the circus comes to an end the assets of the circus are split among the staff by way of lottery. Hardy wins Ethel – a man-sized ape! Laurel, Hardy and Ethel go off on their way, with Ethel taking a shine to Laurel, however before they do anything else their first problem is to find a hotel that doesn't mind having a monkey for a guest!

I saw this as a double bill with `Their First Mistake'. I thought the former was weaker than their usual work, but I appreciated it more when I watched `The Chimp'. I have never before felt disappointed with a Laurel & Hardy short (and I've seen a few). Usually I am sucked in by their funny, punchy nature and it's so short that it's over before I even consider getting bored! However here I felt uncomfortable from the start – the circus set up felt too different from their normal roles to be easily accepted. Also I just found the whole use of the monkey to be poor and unimaginative.

That's not to say I didn't laugh, because I did, but I laughed a lot less frequently that I normally do with their shorts. There are no really good routines after the circus clowning (excuse pun) is finished with – and the final punch line can be see coming from the halfway mark! It was a let down because it all seemed quite forced at times and lacking in the free flowing feel that their better shorts have.

Laurel is still good and Hardy works his double takes well, if not as often as he would probably have liked to. The chimp of the title is too obstructive to the dynamic that exists between Laurel and Hardy and is a most unwelcome addition to the duo. The fact that the chimp is more than just a plot device (as the baby was in `Their First Mistake') but becomes a participant is to the film's detriment. The support cast are pretty poor – even James Finlayson is woefully underused, not even one trade mark double-take and squint!

Overall this is one for fans only. I'm a fan and I still felt let down. It doesn't have any really strong scenes and the majority is quite ordinary. It is L&H of course, so it is impossible NOT to be funny at all, but this is way off their usual standard. The monkey used to set up basically every scene bar the early ones causes more damage to the onscreen dynamics than good and is the root of this film's weakness. I still laughed but the space between these laughs was way too long.

This is my all-time favorite L&H episode! Ollie and James Finlayson are my favorites. But what I don't like about this is Stan Laurel. He acts too whiny and emotional and for a comic genius he takes his role as a childishly innocent man way too far!

A brief synopsis: Stan and Ollie get laid off from the circus in which they were working, Stan gets a flea circus and Ollie gets a chimp named Ethyl. Along the way they encounter a frustrated landlord whose wife shares the same name as the chimp, and a lion on the loose.

The funniest part was when Ollie asked why Stan was so scared and Stan screamed, "I saw MGM"! When I heard that I laughed myself sick and almost fell off my chair! James Finlayson's role as the ringmaster in this was exceptionally awesome as was his other roles in L&H movies and episodes.

So, if any of you are L&H fans, please check this one out!

Only true Laurel and Hardy addicts will appreciate this sub-standard short that has the boys doing their best to demolish a circus tent with explosive gun powder, after which STAN LAUREL is given a flea circus for a parting gift, and OLIVER HARDY, a chimp called Ethyl.

Naturally, when they decide to look for lodgings they get a hard time from landlord BILLY GILBERT who refuses to have them under his roof when he spies the chimp. Gilbert is already in a dither because his wife hasn't come home yet--his dear Ethyl.

The rest of the short has the boys getting into one sticky situation after another, but the laughs are meager and the obvious use of a man inside an ape costume takes a lot away from the gags. Funniest line has Stan sighting a loose lion on the prowl and Oliver asking him what's the matter. "I've seen MGM," is his straight answer.

But the slapstick happenings are not on par with the duo's best comedy shorts. This is strictly an early Laurel and Hardy featurette from Hal Roach that needed a much better script. At least BILLY GILBERT gets to do his customary energetic job as the irate husband who overhears Hardy telling the chimp, "Come to bed, Ethyl."

Good potential material, but it should have been a lot funnier.

It's really difficult to rate this movie. The movie beginning very promising and solid but soon descents to a lower level, due to some improbable moments and dragging humor.

Reason why I still decided to rate this movie a 7 is due to the first halve of the movie which is set in a circus. The humor and slapstick moments in the first halve are extremely well placed and executed by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Also the presence of James Finlayson as the ringmaster is a reason to consider this movie an above average Laurel & Hardy picture. Finlayson delivers some fine comical lines in this movie and adds to the amusement level of the movie.

The second part of the movie in which the boys have a some mishaps with their chimp (a guy in a monkey-suit) too often gets too ridicules and simple to consider it funny all of the time. The humor is for most part dragging, also because of this very reason. Definitely not Laurel & Hardy finest moment.

The first halve and some other minor things still however make sure that this movie is an above, although slightly, average movie from Laurel & Hardy by director James Parrott, who in the same year also directed the far more classic Laurel & Hardy short movie; "The Music Box".

Entertaining enough but could had been far more classic, if the rest of the movie was just as good and solid as the first halve.

7/10

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This is not amongst my favourites of the many Laurel and Hardy shorts I have seen, but it was a perfectly passable short subject.

James Finlayson as ever is a boon of a presence; making a brilliant foil to the pair. Laurel and Hardy are as wonderful as ever, though possibly a slight weariness is evident; the antics here being so very similar to many other of their shorts. What especially enervates this film are the early, possibly all too brief, sequences in the circus; to see, largely in atmospheric long shot, the great duo comically spoiling the planned circus gags, only to create new ones in their bungling, is a wonderful spectacle. The spatial atmosphere given by a visible audience - though amusingly small - is quite a refreshing dichotomy; the performance-within-a-performance air of this section is beautiful to watch.

Yes, things slip towards far more laboured chimp-related gags, but this is professional stuff; Laurel and Hardy executing the comedy finely. It does tend towards going through the motions, but, cripes, this is the funniest and most loved double act of all, on screen for our benefit. And thus, it's a film more laudable than so many.

Rating:- *** 1/2/*****