User reviews

This isn't one of the better shorts by Laurel and Hardy however it does prove that given practically no plot, the team was able to make even the simplest idea watchable and fun.

When the film begins, you learn that Ollie is about to marry a very wealthy heiress to a huge oil fortune. As he gets ready to go, Stanley drops by and gives Ollie his wedding present--a jigsaw puzzle. Oddly, it's as if the puzzle is possessed, as everyone coming to the house ends up mesmerized by putting it together--even though the wedding should have begun by now. Again and again, people come to the house but end up transfixed. Even the cabbie refuses to take Ollie to the wedding because he is much more interested in assembling the puzzle than making a buck driving Ollie.

There's a tiny bit more to the plot than that--but not much!! As I said, the plot is weak here and it's the barest of ideas--yet it still manages to work. You can't help but laugh as this tiny problem snowballs into a total catastrophe! See it and understand how the team was able to turn practically anything into gold during their heyday.

This is a very simple movie that relies on just one comical premise; a couple of grownups get fascinated at putting a puzzle together, while Oliver actually has a wedding to attend to. His own wedding!

At first this doesn't look like the most fun Laurel & Hardy short around but as the movie progresses it gets better and better. The more people show up putting the puzzle together, the more fun the movie gets. It's simple but it's still fun to see all those characters (Laurel & Hardy, a taxi driver, the butler, a policeman and a messenger boy) trying to put a puzzle together. It's simple childish humor but it works fun and effective. Also from the moment James Finlayson appears in the story, the movie begins to take a more slapstick form and the movie begins to features some fun slapstick moments, which of course eventually results in an huge brawl at the end of movie, between all of the characters.

Its simple comical premise works better than you at first sight would expect.

This really isn't the best written, most interesting or original Laurel & Hardy short but it's a perfectly fun, innocent movie to kill some time with.

7/10

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Ollie is in the midst of being married, which will then lead to a big promotion when Stanley brings over this puzzle. The puzzle occupies everybody's time, thus the cause for all the laughs in this fun short with the puzzle becoming an object that is revered by all who come in contact with it. Wonderful sequence with 6 people hovering over the puzzle at one time, like children. Needless to say, Ollie didn't get married, but the film did end with Stan finding the missing piece to the puzzle.

Ollie is getting ready to Marry the daughter of Oil Magnate Mr Cucumber (Laurel-Hardy regular James Finalyson), When Stan brings over a 200 piece Jigsaw puzzle in which everybody becomes sucked in to play with it,as well as Ollie and Stan there's The Policeman,Telegram messenger and the Cab Driver, Mr Cucumber and his daughter wait impatiently in the Church until he decides to drive over to ollie's house to see what's up, when a Jigsaw piece goes missing and the guys become paranoid about who has taken it resulting in a full scale slapstick fight,So policemen thinking it's a riot become involved and arrest everybody except Stan & Ollie who are hiding in a Sofa and up a chimney, So yet another of Ollie romances ends in disaster

Wonderfully made, funny short comedy with the best comic actors who ever lived

9/10

What kind of present would Stanley buy to Ollie, who will soon get married? He would probably buy something very important, like a jig-saw puzzle. The puzzle would be a great present, because if Ollie is married he and Stan could not go out anymore. They could still try to solve that puzzle. Good thinking, Stan!

In this film not much is happening, because that stupid present takes all interest from everything else. Much fun is then due to that absurd situation and therefore this film should be seen as a warning of the complete waste of time that a jig-saw puzzle induces. Laurel and Hardy have done much better films than this but even this simple story shows how proficient they were. This is still a good film, because they manage to keep it simple and not overdo anything.

This short shows Laurel & Hardy at their best. Very little slapstick, as the comedy itself is played to the hilt. It's the essence of the running gag, the joke that keeps coming back, and back, and back, each time in a different way and funnier than before. The storyline is simple, and elegant - a common human obsession - getting addicted to a jigsaw puzzle - is first played rather normally, than slowly but inescapably grows and grows. This is like a Seinfeld episode before there was a Seinfeld.

It really shows their genius to create something like this, with a minimum of props and a direct storyline that doesn't get sidetracked, and all the byplay, including the wedding, eventually fits together like a jigsaw puzzle itself. Soon all the characters are involved in the puzzle, in one way or another, and it sucks them in like a giant vortex.

Obviously, this is one of my favorite shorts and is a good one to introduce someone to Laurel & Hardy.

Oliver Hardy is about to marry in to the family of a rich oil magnate so right away you know things won't be going to plan. Ollie is part of a double act whose humour comes out of his bullying of Stan Laurel so right away you know whose side to take and this short is no different . Let's be honest and say without the slightest feeling of guilt we love it when the bully's life lies in tatters

One thing I have noticed about the L&H shorts is that despite having a short running time - that's why they're called shorts after all- there's often a feeling of two different stories joined together, You might actually be astounded then when I was once briefly sitting in on an indie film company in Edinburgh up and coming short film makers would make the same mistake. It's probably not a fault of short film making but because of the nature of short film making it's far more noticeable than a 90 page screenplay. Here in this 1933 contribution everything is streamlined and simple and is all the better for it. It's also interesting as a window when jigsaws' and listening to the radio were classed as entertainment

Ollie is about to get married and come into lots and lots of money? His future wife is the daughter of oil magnate Peter Cucumber! None other than goofy Jimmy Finlayson plays this role, mugging his way through every scene with a handlebar moustache at that. I haven't seen this short in decades, and it's still fresh and funny as ever, making the point that Laurel and Hardy are timeless comedians.

The running gag is a giant jigsaw puzzle Stan gives Ollie for a wedding present. Sudden guests at the house, such as a telegram messenger and a cabbie complicate the wedding plans as now everybody is around the table trying to piece the puzzle together.

DO NOT DISTURB!

There is a degree of realism here as jigsaw puzzles were a national craze in the 1930s, and remain popular to this very day. And you have to admit, jigsaw puzzles are habit forming. Needless to say, the house is wrecked in the process, the police arrive and its shear INSANITY.

There's a funny scene where the messenger's bike is crushed between two cars like butter. Behind the scenes, the production crew actually came up with inventive ways to wreck things. Another gem scene has Ollie landing on a piano, which completely falls apart, and in slow motion. Applause to whoever thought that one up.

Comedian Frank Terry, who plays "Hives" the butler is also the voice on the radio. Terry was a comedy writer for silent films and appeared in many sound films. He later left Hollywood to become a minister in Hawaii for a leper colony, though returning in the 40s to resume his career.

This film, and NO surprise, was added to the list of historical movie classics in 2016.

Get the remastered dvd box sets with all of Laurel and Hardy's short films.

Me and My Pal concerns Oliver Hardy, who is anxious as can be on his wedding day, as he's not only about to marry a beautiful lady but also become an "oil magnate," thanks to her father Pete Cucumber (Jimmy Finlayson) and his enthusiastic support for his daughter's fiancée. Just before he is about to leave for the wedding, Stan Laurel, Hardy's best man, arrives after ordering the flowers for the reception with a jigsaw puzzle. While Hardy initially rejects it as a distraction, both men can't help but become entranced in trying to solve the puzzle, so much so they become incredibly tardy for the wedding, worrying Hardy's bride-to-be and angering Cucumber. Soon, after the butler and the driver become immersed in solving the puzzle, nobody is going anywhere, and Cucumber leaves the wedding to find and scold Hardy.

Me and My Pal is an intriguing short because the humor, for once in a Laurel and Hardy short, is neither brought forth by situational comedy or verbal banter; the humor of the short is entirely reliant on the fact that everybody becomes fascinated and invested in solving a jigsaw puzzle. It's as if the puzzle has some magical force that sucks anyone around it into solving it, which is where the short finds almost all of its humor. The issue is this isn't the kind of funny that's hilarious, or the kind somebody thinks of when they think of Laurel and Hardy, but the kind of funny that is baffling or contemplative.

Director Charles Rogers wisely keeps this short a slender nineteen minutes because anymore and we'd be far past the threshold for this kind of material. This is one of the strangest shorts by Laurel and Hardy I have yet to see, one that's not brazenly funny but one that finds ways to mystify by subtly invoking a fantasy element without any supernatural behavior. It's not quite amazing, but it's quietly subversive, especially given that these two men had a formula down from their very first shorts that they often stuck with until the end.

Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, and Jimmy Finlayson. Directed by: Charles Rogers.

Oliver Hardy is due to marry the daughter of Sir Cucumber, a rich oil baron, and hence become an oil magnate himself. His best man, Stan Laurel, brings over a gift before they leave for the wedding ceremony – a big jigsaw puzzle. However the puzzle proves to be fiendishly addictive and the pair are delayed by the attention it draws.

This Laurel & Hardy short starts with an overlong set up (albeit amusingly delivered over the radio) but soon gets down to the central gag – the fact that none of the protagonists can drag themselves away from the jigsaw long enough to do what they have to do. It is funny the first few times but it is less funny as it goes along. Only the idea of an increasing crowd of people gathered around the jigsaw makes it amusing.

The punchline of the whole short is really added at the last minute and I think they must have been stuck for a strong finish and so settled for this. Hardy is good with his usual looks of frustration towards the audience while Laurel is as confused as ever. They work together well. Finlayson is a disappointment as he doesn't do what he is best at (his slow burn double take) although it is interesting to hear him say `d'oh' as he was indeed the inspiration for one Homer Simpson's trademark. The rest of the support cast do little but I always find Finlayson to be excellent value in these shorts so felt a little let down.

Overall this is a simple short that is not the best the pair have done but is amusing none the less. However I must be honest and say that they have done better and funnier.

It's the morning of Oliver's wedding to oil baron Peter Cucumber's daughter. While waiting for the taxi to take them to the ceremony, Oliver and his best man Stanley become absorbed

Not the best from the boys, the gags aren't constant, but it's watchable and amusing. L & H had enough talent to make anything, no matter how routine, to shine.

Ollie is going to marry one of the Cucumber girls. As they await the wedding, Stanley reveals his gift, a jigsaw puzzle. Soon, everyone and his brother are there, trying to put together the puzzle. They are absolutely mesmerized by this thing and can't think of anything else. Meanawhile, Mr. Cucumber, Jimmy Finlayson, is getting more and more furious. Unfortunately, when they are just about finished, they realize that one of the pieces is missing. No one is to leave until it's found (there is a policeman at the scene). Anyway, it's amazing to watch the byplay among these great actors. Not always considered one of the best, I find it hilarious.

A LAUREL & HARDY Comedy Short.

Ollie is marrying the boss's daughter this morning and he has no time for any nonsense. Then Stan shows up with an absolutely irresistible jigsaw puzzle...

Although a one-note comedy, ME AND MY PAL is still very funny. Highlight: Ollie's face as he listens to the radio announcement. That's James Finlayson as Peter Cucumber & Charlie Hall as the flower delivery boy.

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.

Although a vast majority of Laurel and Hardy's previous efforts ranged from above average to very good ('45 Minutes from Hollywood' being the only misfire and mainly worth seeing as a curiosity piece and for historical interest, and even that wasn't a complete mess), 'Two Tars' for me was their first truly classic one with close to flawless execution. Didn't find 'Me and My Pal' quite one of their very best, but it to me still very good.

Admittedly, the story is pretty thin, in fact there's not really much of one, and is pretty standard and the beginning is a touch slow.

Despite that, 'Me and My Pal' is great fun while also having a definite degree of substance, never less than very amusing and the best moments, like with the ice cream and the phone calls, being classic hilarity. It is never too silly, there is a wackiness that never loses its energy and the sly wit is here, some of the material may not be new but how it's executed actually doesn't feel too familiar and it doesn't get repetitive. It's all simple but it is effective in its simplicity without feeling too thin.

Laurel and Hardy are on top form here, both are well used, both have material worthy of them and they're equal rather than one being funnier than the other (before Laurel tended to be funnier and more interesting than Hardy, who tended to be underused). Their chemistry feels like a partnership here too, before 'Two Tars' you were yearning for more scenes with them together but in 'Me and My Pal' and on the most part from 'Two Tars' onwards we are far from robbed of that. Their comic timing is impeccable, especially Laurel as Hardy's wife.

'Me and My Pal' looks good visually, is full of energy and the direction gets the best out of the stars, is at ease with the material and doesn't let it get too busy or static. James Finlayson is his usual reliable self.

Concluding, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Oliver Hardy is scheduled this morning to marry Marion Bardell, daughter of oil magnate James Finlayson. Ollie's best man -- comparatively -- is Stan Laurel, who has brought a jigsaw puzzle along before they head off to the wedding.

While Stan and Ollie could create a classic comedy short with just the two of them and a prop, there's also a lot of laughs to be had with someone to tangle with, and Finn was a frequent and exasperated opponent. He was headed for a business career when a friend talked him out of Edinburgh University and onto the stage. He came to America in 1911, entered the movies in 1916, and by 1920 was working for Sennett. In 1923, he came to the Hal Roach lot, where it was thought he could become a star comic. By 1927, that was proven wrong, but his contributions as a supporting comic are legendary. His last appearance in more than 250 shorts and features was in 1952. He died the following year, age 66.

This time around, Ollie's about to get married, but Stan brings over a jigsaw puzzle, and everyone who lays eyes on it gets addicted! Sure enough, it leads to a series of slapstick scenes. As someone who enjoys jigsaw puzzles, I can confirm that they can be addictive. Anyway, "Me and My Pal" is a riot. Definitely recommend it.

Also watch last year's "Stan and Ollie" if you haven't seen it.