Laughing Gravy (Laurel & Hardy 1931)

Well now just the oddest Stan and Ollie film I've seen so far, no doubt about that. There seem to be different versions about, but the one I've just enjoyed every second of was the three-reel colorised version, and the color / colour is just lovely- it looks so fresh and warm. No idea how these colorisations are regarded in the Laurel and Hardy community, though I think generally they are not thought of as a Good Thing, but here at least it adds to the charm immeasurably.
Laughing Gravy is a dog, Stan's dog- the boys are living in a rented room and keeping him secret from landlord Charlie Hall. And for thirty minutes that's pretty much your cast- Stan, Ollie, Laughing Gracy and Charlie Hall. The first two reels are the boys' attempts to keep their secret from Charlie, the final reel is what happens after they've been thrown out and are packing their belongings. And it's this final ten minutes that is so beautiful and extraordinary. Stan receives a letter explaining that a relative had died, leaving him a fortune- on the condition that he breaks off all ties with Ollie. It's rare to find such a prolonged, gentle examination of their relationship as this: I really can't think of anything else like it. Funny, tender and dark, this final reel dips a toe into the river of poetry, and I think it's lovely, I really do.
And then: just as we are recovering from this unexpected detour, the landlord kills himself. There is some odd territory being explored here, and though I can't honestly argue for this as one of the funniest Laurel and Hardy films, I would suggest that it's one of their films that anyone with a passing interest in their art needs to see.

Any Old Port! (Laurel & Hardy 1932)

Laurel and Hardy can seem so delightfully artless after an orgy of Chaplin. It's all appearance of course- Stan was every bit the craftsman too, but he crafted humour rather than art. And it goes without saying that while Laurel and Hardy films may never have aspired to the status of art, art, at their best, they most certainly are.
'Any Old Port!' isn't really one of the best of them though, that said, but it'sstill huge fun and features a gloriously vile turn from Walter Long. Two sailors home on shore leave help a hotel waif escape from the clutches of her bullying boss. Job done, and short of funds, Ollie enters Stan into a boxing fight- his opponent, the bullying boss. Really, Walter Long is hypnotically unpleasant here- his immoral, sociopathic sneer is haunting. I'm not sure the film would have been half as good without him.
The boxing match is good- but they always are aren't they? You have to really go some to fail with a comic boxing match. The best bits though are before the match even starts, with Ollie in Stan's corner, guiding him, working the crowd. Stan wins his fight, knocking Long out with his own loaded glove- but Ollie put all their money on the bully to win, so they've learn nothing, they've gained nothing. But they've saved a lady's honour. Laurel and Hardy were heroes every step of the way, whether they get recognized for it, rewarded for it, or not.

Two Tars (Laurel & Hardy 1928)

I think there's much still to be said on the subject of anger in Laurel and Hardy films. Just an observation... Very funny this of course, and one of ther finest silent shorts, but my goodness the anger, the uncontained tempers!
It's probably no coincidence that the pick of the Laurel and Hardy films can be given one line summaries in the style of- and bear with me while I try and summon up the nerve to lower the tone for a second- 'Friends'.  There's the christmas trees one, the music box one, and this one- this is the traffic jam one. Twenty minutes long, and surely a good fifteen of those minutes are spent in the confines of the angriest, most violence-filled traffic jam you're ever going to see. And, perverse as ever, I'm going to say that I actually prefer the stuff that comes before it- Stan and Ollie, two sailors home on leave, pick up a swell pair of girls and try and get some sweets out of a doodad for them. Charlie Hall is the diminutive dark-haired sweet vendor who provides the opposition for their first fight in the film, though it's the girls who really get stuck into him. The interplay between the boys and the girls in these first couple of scenes is lovely, lots of cute flirtation and shy smiles, but it does highlight how for the remainder of the film the girls becomes eye candy and not really anything more.
I love the jaunty nautical bounding strides both the Boys have here- these little touches work so well (similarly the exchange of hats- no big deal is made of it, and you could almost miss it completely, but it's so lovely) and help take 'Two Tars' to a higher level. The traffic jam scene is great of course- a ton of fabulous moments in there. But you already know that.

Way Out West (Laurel & Hardy 1937)

'Way Out West', glorious though it is, probably confirms that for my taste at least the feature length was a step too far for Laurel and Hardy. In shorts, they were perfect, frequently perfect, but in features- and this is surely the best of them all- there's just a little too much flab, too many scenes that should have been trimmed or even snipped out completely.
I don't know, maybe that's harsh.
Maybe I need to lay my cards on the table and say that I think 20-30 minutes is the premium for all comedy media- you cross that line and you're into diminishing returns. Maybe ultimately that's my problem then- I'm not sure any comedy feature is ever going to give me exactly what I'm looking for. But 'Way Out West' comes much, much closer than most. I could have done without the scenes of the Boys trying to reclaim the goldmine deed at night- this dragged. There were fine touches, but I didn't want to be watching it. The stuff with the mule, and Ollie going up and down with the ropes- there was nothing wrong with it, but it was a long and pretty pointless scene where I didn't want a long and pretty pointless scene to be. I can be a perfectionist you know.
Ah, but now let's bask in some of the glories that came before. The plot of course- Stan and Ollie are somehow entrusted with handing over the deeds to a young saloon worker whose father has just died. Her guardains try and trick her out of her inheritance. Finn, in particular, was never better than here- there's a gurning aside he gives to camera qute early on, just before Laurel and Hardy meet the conniving Sharon Lynn for the first time I think, that is absolutely magical. I think it's filed away in the Flickr album of my mind's eye for all time. In his own way James Finlayson was a legend, and I think we should pause for a second to appreciate him...
The musical numbers worked better here too than in any other Stan and Ollie film I've seen- the film didn't stop to accommodate them, and more to the point the entertainment didn't stop to accommodate them. They worked well as musical numbers, and they were funny.
And surely the tickling scene with Stan and Sharon Lynn is one of the most perversely sexual things ever to find its way on to film? Maybe it's me again. Maybe I need to keep quiet.

Sons Of The Desert (Laurel & Hardy 1933)

We could be venturing into heresey territory here, but for a big chunk of its duration I don't think 'Sons of the Desert' is very good. I mean, it is good, and it is certainly one of the better Laurel and Hardy features, but anyone talking about it as one of their best films? No sir. I take exception to that kind of talk. But you can see why its reputation is as high as it is- the ending is so good that you just come away from the film on a high, and tend to forget some of the less successful stuff that has gone before. Such as: Charley Chase. The stuff with Charley Chase just isn't funny. Now I love Charley Chase. And I can accept that he's playing a whole different kind of character here, and I'm happy with that- go for it, see if it works. But it plainly doesn't. There's nothing wrong in principle with having a hugely irritating, obnoxious character in a comedy film- it just doesn't work here. There's nothing funny in what he says or what he does- it isn't Charley's fault, this just really isn't particularly funny material.
Let's move on to the business with the front doors. Stan and Ollie live next door to each other, and there's a huge, elaborate sequence of them geting confused and entering each other's houses, getting locked out, trying again etc. This would have been, should have been, a nice little gag, but it is blown up into being a showcase scene, with all the different possibilities explored. And it is tiresome. Really it is. There I've said it.
You know what, let's just stick my neck right out while I'm getting carried away and say one more thing. I don't really care for Mae Busch. She may be great in films I haven't seen her in, but in the films I have seen her in I don't really care for her. I find her irritating. I've said it, move on, move on.
There is, of course, some wonderful, wonderful stuff here. The final few minutes- the confessions to the wives certainly, but also the scenes before the confessions, with the boys hiding in the attic- are some of the sweetest, and funniest, that Laurel and Hardy every filmed. Every nuance of the relationship between the two comedians is so perfect here. Hell, even Mae Busch's contribution is worthwhile. Stan is absolutely adorable, and you cheer him on as he gets his drink and cigarette from sweet but rather scary Dorothy Christy.
Aside from this final volley of genius though, my favourite moment in the film is a strange little nothing of a moment- Stan and Ollie take a cab back home after the convention. Once they exit the cab, the poor driver is first hit in the face by Stan's door, and then trips over Stan's bag. I don't even know who the cab driver is- it's over in a flash, but is just a perfect, superbly executed moment.

Saps At Sea (Laurel & Hardy 1940)

Now this is lovely. It really is though, and I know I'm going against the grain somewhat here. Sure, it's hugely flawed, but by reputation the Boys were well into their decline by this point, and if you take 'Saps at Sea' purely on its own terms and snip out the wider historical overview completely I don't see how you can deny that it is really good fun. And you get a proper climactic fight too, with Ollie giving Nick the convict a pasting!
Ben Turpin has a wee cameo, Fin has a glorious scene as a doctor, and Harry Langdon was on the writing staff- this is like a last hurrah for the silent era. Even the goat's face rings a bell.
Ollie has a breakdown in a horn factory (yeah, the whole idea of the horn factory and the production line approach- I think disbelief has to get suspended here a bit...) and is prescribed a nice sea voyage by Doctor Fin. Unfortunately Ollie and Stan's ramshackle little craft has a murderous stowaway on board. There's not a whole lot more to it than that, but gags are milked at every opportunity, and most of them work well, even if they can be a tad familiar. The bunk scene for instance, with the goat in Stan's bed- this is done beautifully, tenderly even. Sure you're not dealing with material of the highest originality, but so often with Laurel and Hardy the appeal- damn it, let's come straight out and say it, the MAGIC- is as much to do with the chemistry, the performances, the subtleties of the interplay, as it is to do with the material the comedians happen to be performing with. You're left with an approach to comedy and an approach to entertaining the audience that transcends the film itself- hence the base level of quality for any Laurel and Hardy film is going to be significantly higher than it is going to be for, say, a Three Stooges film (and I've got no intention of getting all anti-Three Stooges here- they can at least be mentioned in the same sentence as Laurel and Hardy, and that's not to be sniffed at...) Practically none of their mature films, up to about the time of 'Saps at Sea', could be considered a failure, let alone could be regarded as unwatchable. Compare that with what was to come once Stan's artistic input was thrown out with the dishwater.
No, not a masterpiece, but hugely fun.

Block-Heads (Laurel & Hardy 1938)

'Block-Heads' was one of the first Laurel and Hardy films I remember watching, but I don't think that's the only reason it means to much to me. I do find it curious that it isn't more highly regarded- I realize that it isn't quite spoken of in the same breath as some of the 40's atrocities, but neither has it been admitted to the top rank of Laurel and Hardy features. I understand that it is, to put it politely, derivaitive, and that it does tail of into bit of a shouty final quarter or so, but the first half an hour is just an unstoppable barrage of first-rate gags and really clever ideas, and the Boys (note the capitalization there...) are performing just wonderfully. Moments like: Ollie's disbelief at seeing Stan's picture in the photo, and his repeated double-backs to check that he isn't mistaken, Stan leaping back into Ollie's arms after the Garage Incident, the rapid descent of the apartment building's staircase ('There's going to be a fight...'). These are all small bits and pieces rather than the Big Gags, but they are all crafted so beautifully and, as far I'm concerned, should be enough to elevate 'Block-Heads' a little higher in the collective consciousness.
Twenty years after Armistice Day Stan finally learns the war is over, and he can return home. Touchingly, Ollie is overjoyed to be reunited with his old army pal, though the novelty soon wears off as Stan destroys his home and his marriage. Minna Gombell is the wife, and is unfortunately rather draining as the wife. But, to give her due, she is only playing the part as written. It's a shame as there is some subtlety about her early on- the breakfast scene between Mr and Mrs Hardy on their anniversary is rather sweet, with humour and genuine affection, but from then on she is allowed to be nothing more or less than a shrill charicature, and her 'humorous' shouting matches with her husband could bring a migraine on. More interesting is Patricia Ellis from across the hall- she is playing a type we're not really used to seeing in Laurel and Hardy films, elegant and unflappable, and while there's a reason we don't see this type of character too often, she is like a breath of fresh air here. The courtship and romance of Mr and Mrs Gilbert would make a fascinating short subject in itself I feel.

Liberty (Laurel & Hardy 1929)

Now this the 7 year old loved. And with good reason of course. Admittedly it was the intertitle about the boys changing their pants that set her off (ah, the perils of our very-nearly-shared language), but there was plenty of fairly earned merriment later on too. What was interesting though, watching it with her, was that she found the scaffolding scene genuinely involving and exciting- and in all fairness I must take my leave from her at that point, though that I guess is the difference between being 7 and being... significantly older than 7.
So- after a presumed jailbreak, Stan and Ollie find themselves wearing each other's trousers. And Stan, adding a humorous wee exclamation point to this, also has a crab in his pair. Or Ollie's pair, depending on how you look at it. Two substantial extended episodes then- trying to exchange their trousers in public, and then trying to hold on to their liberty (and their lives) perched atop a skyscraper mid-construction. It's very good, very funny, from start to finish- Stan's clowning, crab down his trousers, is a joy to behold. It is not, after all, a subtle gag, but he somehow brings subtlety to it, and also a curious sense of confused beauty. There's something haunting about the repetition of his utterly bewildered face as he tries, and fails, to understand exactly what is going on.
There's a brief cameo from dear old Fin as a shopkeeper having his pile of records destroyed, but it is a curiously half-hearted scene, an afterthought almost, as if everyone was readying themselves for the scaffolding scenes to come.