Laurel and Hardy - Crime and Punishment Collection.
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A themed collection containing 4 DVDs and centring around Laurel and Hardy movies involving the Law, Crime etc….

In total 23 films spread over the 4 DVDs.

The Boys:
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Stan Laurel (June 16 1890 – February 23 1965).
Real name Arthur Stanley Jefferson.
Stan was born in Lancashire but toured with Charlie Chaplin and hence on one tour ended up in America. He had ‘Arrived’

Oliver Hardy (January 18 1892 – August 7 1957).
Real name Norvell Hardy.
Ollie was born in Harlem, Georgia and his mother was apparently responsible for him going into theatre. Right from early childhood Ollie had a beautiful singing voice.
Soon the two would meet.
They first appeared together in a silent movie called ‘Slipping Wives’ in 1927.
The rest is history.

The Greatest comedy double acts EVER.

A brief synopsis and a short opinion of each and then a summary at the end will follow.

Laurel & Hardy Law/Classic Shorts
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Scram
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We see the boys in court for vagrancy and the judge gives them 1 hour to ‘Scram’ out of town. On their way they meet a friendly drunk and retrieve his car key from a sewer drain.
They all fall down the grid, TWICE!!
He invites them to stay with him at his home.
They go to the wrong house and end up breaking in. The butler awakened by the noise chases the drunk from the house but Stan and Ollie make them selves at home right down to putting on pyjamas.
The real owner comes home, IT’S THE JUDGE !!!!, he finds Stan and Ollie with his wife and goes ballistic.
A real snap shot of the late twenties and thirties. The plot is a typical Laurel and Hardy farce with them at their best.

Night owls
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Police officer Kennedy has failed to detect 42 burglaries in one week; he is the laughing stock of the dept. He is out on the beat when he comes across Stan and Ollie’s asleep on a park bench. He tells them they can get 90 days in jails for vagrancy or do him a little favour.
They are brow beaten into robbing the police chiefs’ house to put Kennedy in good with the chief.
“Be as quiet as you can” officer Kennedy tells them, you must be kidding!
They go along with his scheme but are the noisiest and most incompetent house breakers in the world.
Dust bins full of cans and glass constantly get kicked over, a cat runs across Stan’s face and he crashes into Ollie and the cop and all the rubbish.

Finally they get over the wall, where they smash windows, fall into green houses, knock out PC Kennedy with a brick, start fires, set off self playing pianos and generally are the LOUDEST robbers ever. They drive the butler literally nuts! In the end the boys escape and Kennedy is arrested for the robberies.

The Second Hundred Years
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The boys play two convicts who whilst tunnelling out of the prison go astray a ‘bit’ and end up emerging in the wardens’ office. Eventually escaping they dress as ‘Toffs’ but it back fires when the Toffs end up coming back to the same prison to inspect it!
Typical L & H farce.

Call of the Cuckoo
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Filmed immediately after ‘The Second Hundred Years’, the boys end up driving their neighbour to distraction by being a pain in the backside to him.
Not that funny this I am sad to say.

Duck Soup
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This was the initial beginning of the Duo as they solidified their characters in this movie.
Stan and Ollie are tramps who crash for the night in a very swanky deserted mansion, only problem is visitors turn up the next day and then Ollie pretends to be the man of the house whilst Stan pretends to be the butler one minute and then the maid the next.
Very funny short and the boys at their best.

Forty-Five Minutes from Hollywood
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The boys made their first proper appearance together in this movie.
They are not a double act as such but the chemistry is all here. Stan is in trouble in a Hollywood hotel and Ollie as the Lobby detective is not helping him to calm down in fact he’s making things worse.

Big Business
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A silent movie this one and of course, in Black and White.
With the obligatory organ playing in the background and subtitles throughout.
Stan and Ollie try selling Christmas trees in California!
First the tree gets stuck in the customers’ door and then Stan’s coat. The customer starts to get annoyed; he destroys a tree then won’t pay for it. All mayhem ensues from this point onwards.
Clothes, watches, front doors, windows, door bells, trees, cars etc…
All done with style and madness.
An early movie this one with a rather slim Ollie. A real snap shot of the late twenties and thirties.

Laurel & Hardy More Brushes with the Law/Classic Shorts
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Going Bye-Bye!
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The boys have just testified against a killer and he swears to get even so the boys decide to leave town. They advertise for a travelling companion to share the expenses.
AND the murders girlfriend replies to the ad, she wants to get out of town also.
Butch the killer escapes by hiding in a trunk and the boys unsuspectingly help to free him fro the trunk before he suffocates. But when he gets out! Watch out he’s sin a mean mood.
And then he spots his girlfriend with the boys!
A very, very good short, with laugh out loud one liners and the usual dead pan expressions from Stan.

The Midnight Patrol.
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The boys are policemen? Go figure.
One night whilst sitting in their car they come across 2 thieves with no respect of for the law or there car. The crooks end up putting a brick through it.
And of course they have to have car 13 !!
They investigate a house breaking and come a across a jewel thief who they mistake for the occupier.
They end up clobbering the chief of police who really lives there.
There car has all its tyre stolen and it all end with Ollie’s usual forlorn stare into the camera
A very good short with all their slapstick, ear wiggling and general mayhemic fun
Definitely worth a watch

Do Detectives Think?
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Laurel and Hardy play private eyes but they as you might expect are useless. They are hired to protect a judge from an escaped killer, who has vowed revenge upon the judge for sentencing him in the first place.
The killer does not stand a chance! The boys always have luck on their side and the killer ends up wishing he had never escaped.
Star James Finlayson as the judge.
A typical L&H farce which is wonderful to watch, a classic.

Habeas Corpus
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The boys are down on their luck but then get hired by a crazy professor who needs dead bodies with which to carry out his experiments.
They sneak around the cemetery at night which gives ample opportunity for gags and scary slapstick. Stan is EXTREMELY scared. However the police are onto the mad Prof and soon the police are chasing the professor, Stan and Ollie, but then something else gets up and is chasing them all.
A very a little known about film but it delivers classic Laurel and Hardy comedy. Very funny and not the least bit scary, go on let the kids watch it.

Angora Love
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This film was later remade as Laughing Gravy and that version featured a dog.
Here though the boys have a Goat following them and, of course, they take pity on it and take it back to the lodgings. However the landlord is an ogre and if he finds out all hell will let loose.
You can guess what happens; the goat is too noisy and very smelly. The boys end up battered and bruised but at least the Goat gets a good night sleep.
Very funny short this one.

Bacon Grabbers
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Stan and Ollie are attached to the sheriff’s office and go out to collect debts owed.
Mr Kennedy hasn’t made a payment on his radio since 1921 and so they go out to collect it.
However they end up rowing with him, his garden gets dug up, then the house gets wrecked and finally the police get involved.
Not the funniest film they’ve made by a long way.
A real snap shot of the late twenties and thirties.

Liberty
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A superbly funny short this one and very, very funny throughout.
Stan and Ollie escape from prison, by pure luck and stupidity, and are then on the run. They swap clothes but end up with each others pant on. The entire rest of the movie is centred around them trying to swap their pants back. Ollie’s are miles too tight and Stan can’t let go of the waist in case his fall down, try doing that when you on the run.
A wonderfully funny film and the boys really are in their stride. Classic humour from them and still laughable today.

Wrong Again
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A very memorable and funny film.
Stan and Ollie mishear about a reward for the return of ‘Blue boy’ and take back a horse called blue boy to the rich man who is offering the reward. However he asks them to put Blue boy on top of the piano!. His blue boy ids a painting. So the boys, undaunted, try to get the horse atop the grand piano. Well you can see what mayhem and laughs are happening here. In the end the house is wrecked, the horse has the hump and the owner has a nervous breakdown.
A very funny short and a typical plot of theirs. Misunderstandings where a common theme of L & H.

Laurel and Hardy Pardon Us and Related Shorts

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Pardon Us
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This is the main feature on the DVD and it is one of their most memorable films.
The boys are sent to prison for making the own liquor during prohibition! The innocent boys end up in a cell with Tiger, the toughest prisoner ever to have lived, and Stan starts annoying him with his loose tooth which sounds like a raspberry every time he talks. Tiger offers to remove it for him with his fist. Stan just stares at him and soon the 3 cellies are the best of friends.
They escape from prison, by accident, but are quickly recaptured and then pardoned by the warden! And Tiger is a reformed character thanks to the boys ‘influence’.
A brilliant film and worth the price of the DVD on its own. This was the boys at their best, highly watchable.

The Hoose-Gow
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Stan and Ollie have been sentenced to jail after accidentally being picked up during a police raid. They escape but are shot in the ‘pants’ by the guard and are soon back on the chain gang. Whilst out digging ditches, somebody gives Stan a pick axe and he is both hilarious and dangerously funny.
They wreck the camp, food tent and guard tower.
Eventually destroying the governors’ car and ending up in a food fight which involves the entire chain gang, prison officers and the governor.

A real snap shot of the late twenties and thirties. A young Stan and Ollie but their chemistry is clearly evident.

The Battle of the Century
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A silent movie this one and a very early Stan and Laurel, in fact it also stars a very youthful Lou Costello.

The film is base around prize fighting and Ollie taking out insurance that Stan doesn’t have an accident and then trying to make hi have an accident. It is typical of its era with lots of physical gags and a pie fight at the end that just has to be seen to be believed.
A very very funny short film that will not disappoint.

Laurel & Hardy Blackmail/Classic Shorts
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Chickens Go Home
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Ollie is running for Mayor until an old flame turns up demanding money or else…
Stan tries to help out but only makes thing worse!
But then Stans wife thinks he’s up to no good and then the fun really starts.
She pulls an axe from her bag, like you do, and all hell is let loose!

A very funny short this one although ‘A’ typical of their style it’s still very funny
A good, if not memorable film.

Come Clean
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Whilst at Ollies house the boys go out for ice cream and end up saving the life of a very odd woman. Afterwards she won't leave them alone and mayhem ensues once their wives find out.
A very funny short and a classic L & H plot.

Love 'Em And Weep
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A very early pairing of Laurel and Hardy this one.
Starring James Finlayson as a Wealthy (Married) businessman finds himself blackmailed by an old girlfriend.
Stan, his business partner, is asked to keep her out of the way. But she escapes and makes her way to Finlayson house where there is a party in full swing.
Ollie stars in this but only as a dinner guest.
This film was later remade as the above film, Chickens go home.

Sugar Daddies
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The boys team up to help a millionaire escape after he awakens to find he has married during a drunken night on the town.
Stan plays a Lawyer! Ha and Ollie plays a butler.
Between the two they make things worse.
A typical film for them and lots of laughs along the way.

Early To Bed
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Ollie gets an inheritance and gives Stan a job as his butler!
Ollie gets more and more pompous and finally Stan snaps with hilarious results.
A very funny one this one and worth your time.

Here we find their usual brand of ‘Cartoon Humour’ where no one actually gets hurt but it all looks very painful.
Various traits they would use would be to pick a fight with a ‘stooge’ or ‘Neighbour’ and then slowly escalate the fight. Each destroying something of the other persons and each time smashing something bigger and louder. Until finally it would end in either the police appearing or a huge brawl.
Such as ripping each others pants off or a huge chaotic cream pie fight.
Stan may appear at time to be getting picked on by Ollie but if Ollie took it too far Stan would snap and then Ollie had better look out.

The sound quality at times is a bit scratchy but, to me, that adds to the enjoyment.
Picture quality is along the same lines, not really DVD but none the less highly watchable.
DVD Extras, non to speak of apart from the usual sound options and subtitles.
Very often you find they slip in a few duds but here all are superb.

DVD Info;
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Language: English
Format: Black & White
Region: Region 2
Number of discs: 4
Classification: PG
Run Time: 778 minutes !!!
ASIN: B0016586ZE
Amazon Price at time of writing: £18.27

Hope you enjoyed,
Greg