Marchands de poisson

Original title: Towed in a Hole

IMDb RATING

YOUR RATING

Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Marchands de poisson (1932)

Although they are successful fishmongers, Stan convinces Ollie that they should become fishermen too, but making a boat seaworthy is not an easy task.Although they are successful fishmongers, Stan convinces Ollie that they should become fishermen too, but making a boat seaworthy is not an easy task.Although they are successful fishmongers, Stan convinces Ollie that they should become fishermen too, but making a boat seaworthy is not an easy task.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

2.6K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

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User reviews35

7.62.6K

Featured reviews

9tavm

Laurel & Hardy try to fix a boat in Towed in a Hole

While Stan & Ollie are successful fish salesmen, Stan suggests they can be even more profitable if they catch their own fish instead of buying them. So they buy a boat named Ruth (after Stan's about-to-be-second-wife) and work on it, with disastrous results, of course! Great slapstick sequences abound with Hardy, of course, getting the brunt of it. This was the last of their three films directed by George Marshall who left Hal Roach Studios after general manager Henry Ginsberg fired him over production delays. He later helmed classic films starring W. C. Fields, Bob Hope, and Martin & Lewis with a couple of solo Jerry Lewis pictures after that team split up. So as we leave Stan & Ollie attempting to go to sea, we'll next see Bud Abbott & Lou Costello at sea in In the Navy.

10david-bartlett

Cinema's greatest comic actors at their absolute peak

Every single detail and frame of this film is a work of art. With only Laurel and Hardy in the cast, it is the most beautiful 18 minutes you could ever wish to spend watching a movie. Every gag, every nuance, every movement, every moment is timed and placed beautifully. I can only wonder if Stan and Babe had any idea when they were making this masterpiece quite what they were achieving... Is it possible to recognise timeless perfection in the midst of the process without spoiling the result? Whatever, this film could almost bring tears to the eyes it is so charming, so satisfying, so quietly side-splitting, and such a magnificent example of screen comedy at its best. Nothing comes better than this. Ever.

dwf

Silly but also very funny

This is probably my all time fav. L&H short. right from the start with the call of 'Fresh Fish' (toot), this is a 'hoot'. As always, Stan has an idea this time expressed as only Stan can. 'If we had a boat .....'. The bit that makes me howl is when Olly is painting the rudder and Stan is scrubbing the deck and finds the tiller in the way. The pause before 'what did you put that stuff on your face for' is agony!. As for Stan's method of getting his head out from behind the mast... See this one now.

8planktonrules

excellent Laurel and Hardy fare

This film is highly reminiscent of another Laurel and Hardy short, HELP MATES. They both concern this clumsy and dopey duo trying to fix something. In HELP MATES, it was home repair and here it is fixing up an old sailboat. In fact, now that I think about it, it's pretty much the same film all over again with only some minor differences. This, though, is not that bad, as regardless it is still very entertaining and funny. I particularly liked the paintbrush goatee that Ollie is sporting late in the movie after a mishap. And the ending, is pretty much as you'd expect--a total disaster. This is pure Laurel and Hardy and, like their best material, NOT set to music or a contrived plot--just simple stupidness--the way Laurel and Hardy are meant to be seen.

tonyhrx

In my view best Laurel and Hardy short

It has a laugh a minute and has some very sophisticated humour. Two fabulous bits stand out - one where Stan is washing the anchor chain and 'wrings' it into a bucket of water. The other is where Stan has been confined to the cabin and plays noughts and crosses with himself. In the finale, there is this wonderful scene where Stan and Ollie watch helplessly as their newly painted boat careers down the road under sail power and smashes into a million pieces. The film does not have too many set pieces but contains loads of small, exquisite gags which will have you doubling up with laughter.

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Trivia
The film that became "Towed in a Hole" was scheduled to start shooting on October 17, 1932, but was postponed for two weeks whilst Stan Laurel and his gag writers struggled to come up with a workable story. Director George Marshall described how he found the way out of this impasse: "I drove to the studio one morning, and in Culver City I passed one of these little fish wagons; and this fellow was touting his wares with a long horn as he drove down the street. So I thought, 'Well, maybe that could be the answer, with the boys selling the fish, but to make more money, catching their own fish.' I had about that much when I came to the studio. Stan was sitting in his room. I told him about the idea and he said, 'Yeah, that just might work.'. The script developed from there. Filming began on November 1 and lasted ten days. The result is considered one of Laurel & Hardy's finest short comedies.

Goofs
When Stan is sawing the mast, the sawing sound is slower from inside the boat than the fast sawing sound from the outside shot of Ollie up painting the mast.