Leave 'em Laughing

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were comedic geniuses, individually and together, and their partnership was deservedly iconic and one of the best there was. They left behind a large body of work, a vast majority of it being entertaining to classic comedy, at their best they were hilarious and their best efforts were great examples of how to do comedy without being juvenile or distasteful.

While not classic Laurel and Hardy, later films, short and feature, had stronger chemistry when fully formed and used their considerable talents better, 'Leave Em Laughing' is a lot of fun. Before, Laurel was much funnier and more interesting while Hardy in most of the previous outings had too little to do. 'Leave Em Laughing' is one of their first very good efforts, to me it's easily one of their best at this point of their careers and one of the first to feel like a Laurel and Hardy short rather than a short featuring them.

'Leave Em Laughing' does take a little too long to get going, coming to life when at the dentist.

Also found that the ending went on longer than it should have done.

Laurel however is very funny, and sometimes hilarious. It is wonderful seeing Hardy having more to do and he is on Laurel's level and actually even funnier. The chemistry is certainly much more here than in previous outings of theirs, namely because there's more of them together and it was starting to feel like a partnership. Support is nice.

A good deal of the humour, particularly when at the dentist and the effects of the laughing gas, is well timed, hugely energetic and very funny (hilarious at its best), with everything going at a lively pace and there is a lot of charm and good nature to keep one going. 'Leave Em Laughing' looks quite good still.

In summary, a lot of fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox