Pugno di ferro

Any Old Port! features just enough action and humor to satisfy my appetite for Laurel and Hardy comedy as it focusing on the two men as sailors who book a hotel and discover the owner, Mugsie Long (Walter Long), wants to marry a woman younger than he is, much to her dismay. After being appalled at what they saw, they save the young girl, but without their wallet, which holds the entirety of their savings. Ollie's friend, in turn, offers up $50 if Ollie will compete in a boxing match against the owner of the hotel, to which he forces Laurel to do the fighting. The outcome, as one would assume, is pretty hilarious.

The short is directed by James W. Horne, who I feel is the best man to direct any Laurel and Hardy short. Combined with H.M. Walker's, Horne's direction takes on the kind of kinetic energy necessary to make a short featuring the two comedic legends click instantaneously, with little reservations. A story like Any Old Port! is often filled to the brim with action and comic spectacle, and combined with the energy and power of the performers and the writing involved, manages to be a fun short through and through.

While light on the quotable nature of Laurel and Hardy shorts, and missing the extra banter and witticisms exchanged by the two men, Any Old Port! succeeds because it recognizes, once more, that situational humor triumphs over slapstick, at least when we have Laurel and Hardy at the core of it all.

Starring: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Directed by: James W. Horne.