The Live Ghost

With today being Halloween, I thought I'd celebrate the day by watching some comedy teams' films that deal with various scary things. In this one, Stan & Ollie are offered some money by a ship captain (Walter Long) to shanghai some drunken men to work on his boat. They succeed but also end up on it themselves. Since those men are stuck with them, the boys are protected by the captain. So when Laurel & Hardy decide to stay at each port, the captain orders them to keep an eye on one really drunk sailor (Arthur Housman) from leaving. That's when the fun really begins...It took a while but as the short kept on, I really found myself laughing especially when Stan gets really scared and then Ollie becomes so as well. Housman really piles his standard drunk act to hilarious results. Oh, and a threat from Long results in yet another freak ending Stan usually likes to employ to outrageous effect. So on that note, The Live Ghost gets a high recommendation from me.

When the L&H Fan Club "The Sons of the Desert" was formed in the early 1960's, Stan, who had sustained a crippling stroke, nevertheless gave his blessing to the formation of the club and supplied the motto for it, which I have repeated above. (Another of his witticisms which I like is "You can lead a horse to water, but a pencil must be lead").

Theo Robertson in his comment above wondered whether either of the boys were fishermen. I don't believe Hardy was but Laurel in his younger days was a keen big game fisherman and fished regularly off Catalina Island for swordfish or marlin. Catalina Island, Theo, is about an hour boat trip from Los Angeles, for your information. He loved the water and had his own boat in those days.

In 1962 I visited Stan at his apartment in the Oceana Hotel in Santa Monica. A wonderful experience and a fond memory for this writer. One question I asked him was about Walter Long, the villain of villains in many of their films. His reply was that surprisingly, Long was one of the mildest men he had ever known and absolutely would not hurt a fly. That came as a big surprise for me.

Laurel and Hardy are hanging out around a port with no money when they hear of a ship that needs a crew – the captain can't get a man to join him because they believe his ship to be haunted. Laurel and Hardy agree to help the captain for payment by knocking out men and putting them on the ship. Things go well until Laurel and Hardy are also knocked out and loaded onto the ship – with a none too friendly crew – however the captain says he will protect them while they are onboard. Staying onboard at every port, Laurel and Hardy are put in charge of looking after a drunken crew member. A confusion over a gun leads them into panic over a `live ghost'.

The Live Ghost is a good short that could easily have been expanded into a longer film were it not for the tenuous `ghost' climax. As it stands it has a reasonable plot with very good characters. Unlike some of their shorts this feels like one idea that has been expanded into a 3 or 4 scene story as opposed to 2 good scenes worked into a story. As such it feels a lot more like a film than a sketch and is the better for it. The onshore scenes are good and the action on the ship, although a little stretched, is well delivered and very funny.

Laurel and Hardy are, of course, excellent, and it is their delivery that makes the conclusion (the live ghost of the title) work rather than seeming laboured in terms of plotting. The support cast is also good and well served. Rather than being just goons or fall guys, the actors all feel like characters – Walter Long as the frustrated captain (`I heard your ship has a ghost' - `stop SAYING that!') was my favourite and gave the film a more rounded feel that went beyond Laurel and Hardy while still keeping them very much at the core.

Overall this is an enjoyable film that is an all round showcase for the talents of Laurel and Hardy. Their delivery makes the material much funnier than it could have been, and the plot and a good cast add to the feeling of this being more than just a sketch stretched to several scenes.

Stan and Ollie, in their usually unemployed and semi-destitute state, are hired by a ship's captain (the frightening Walter Long) to shanghai sailors because no one wants to sail with him (they say he has a ghost ship). Unfortunately for them, they are knocked unconscious and end up with a crew that despises them. On board the ship is a drunk, played by Arthur Housman, who falls in a bucket of whitewash and is mistaken for a dead man. Stan and Ollie throw him overboard but he quickly makes it back on board. Of course, he is immediately mistaken for a ghost and Long is furious. The guys are under his protection, but all bets are suddenly off because he has no more use for them. Mae Busch is soon present as a doxie and a merry chase begins. Just another fine comedy from the amazing twosome.

No one wants to ship on skipper Walter Long's ship. They all say it's haunted, and he gets violent whenever anyone repeats that. He pays Laurel and Hardy a dollar a head for helping him shanghai hands.... and then shanghais them. Add in Mae Busch as a waterfront floozie and you've got a good comedy.

Walter Long was the actor for the Boys whenever they wanted a real tough. He seems to have priced himself out of their market soon after this. A veteran of more than 200 features and shorts from 1910, he died on Independence Day in 1952 at the age of 73.