User reviews

In this episode they play barbershop owners who write to a rich widow. But Stan's letter is rejected, and still wants to tag along with Ollie. Then, in a dream, they go to her mansion and encounter a kooky butler and Ollie becomes engaged to the widow only to find out later on that she's a homicidal maniac who's killed seven other Olivers and plans to make Ollie her eighth victim!

The funniest scenes were when Stan and Jitters were playing with invisible cards and doing that 'pick a card' trick! And the dinner scene with invisible food was another one of L&H's comical moments! And Jack Barty was hilarious as the crazed Jitters and Mae Busch was totally impeccable as the widow and other characters she played in L&H films, too!

This episode is for any L&H fan to see! I give it 4 stars!

This was made in 1934 ! One thing I hadn`t realised untill I saw this film again on BBC 2 a couple of days ago was that a lonely hearts column is used to kick start the plot , a lonely hearts column in 1934 ?Here`s me thinking sad anoraks and wall flowers sending off ads to publications in order to meet equally desperate people was a relatively recent concept . Mind you I thought the same about post modernism untill I saw the Bing and Bob ROAD TO... movies so what do I know ?

Anyway as some of the other reviewers on this page have noted this has a very strange , very dark feel to it . In many ways it feels like Stan and Oliver have walked into a film based on a work of Edgar Allan Poe , and for the first time watching the season of L&H shorts on BBC 2 I couldn`t help noticing gaps in logic in the story , watch OLIVER THE EIGHTH and I promise you that you`ll be saying " Hey , why didn`t they ....? " . Despite these criticisms this certainly one of the better shorts , the bedroom scenes had me laughing out loud , but not for the first time we`re treated to a really bad cop out ending . Oh well nothing is perfect

I absolute adore this movie. It's quite a dark comical one but still features all of the typical humor and slapstick moments.

Finally the boys meet some persons who are even crazier than they are. Mae Busch as the widow and Jack Barty as Jitters are some real good crazy and scary persons. They give the boys a hard time and the movie does actually succeed in making the movie tense and unpredictable. Normally it aren't the supporting actors who make a Laurel & Hardy short to be a classic and comical one but this movie is truly an exception to that.

Honestly there isn't a thing that I dislike about this movie so that is why I regarded as the most perfect Laurel & Hardy short. A must-see!

10/10

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Laurel and Hardy against a black widow? Sounds original, and it begins well, but the dinner-with-imaginary-food sequence in the middle goes on too long. This short does manage to work up some suspense at the end....before the same terrible ending that the other L&H short I watched today, "The Laurel and Hardy Murder Case", had. I'm beginning to see a pattern here. **1/2 out of 4.

Jack Barty is hilarious and performs one of the best pantomime scenes I have ever seen.

Stan, Ollie and Mae Busch all join in to create an incredible pantomime dinner party.

Stan and Ollie are with perfect partners in this film.

The interaction between all the characters is perfect. Barty's speaking voice is also hysterical. It has a bit of English sound, mixed with a deep rasp. His enunciation is sublime.

Sublety abounds. "Madame" (Mae Busch) is perfect as she slides in and out of a sort of schizo-dementia.

You will be glad to see this masterwork and to have in your collection when you need a lift. What great great actors.

A LAUREL & HARDY Comedy Short. Ollie agrees to marry a wealthy widow - not realizing she's a homicidal maniac. She has a curious habit of finding men named "Oliver" and then slitting their throats the night before the wedding. She's killed seven times already; now she plans on making OLIVER THE EIGHTH victim. Locked in her mansion of death, the Boys are in for a night of comic terror...

This little film is somewhat of a change of pace for the Boys, but it's very funny and they lampoon its Gothic mood quite nicely. Mae Busch is lots of fun as the widow.

Hal Roach's short subject takes a sinister turn for his star comedy team of Laurel&Hardy. Ollie and Stan both answer a lonely hearts advertisement in the newspaper about a well fixed widow looking for some romance in her sunset years. But Ollie hides Stan's reply and then Stan finds out after Ollie has gone to meet Mae Busch the widow.

But you'll be singing that old Herman's Hermits tune about Henery the Eighth I am I am. She's never been married Busch because a man named Oliver stood her up and she's done in 7 Olivers who have answered her advertisement. I guess she sends the others away with a little nookie.

So Stan arrives wanting half of what Ollie is going to get. After this the short film is not so much about any routines, it's about the state of panic the boys are in. As we well know Laurel does not deal well with crisis situations. Ollie's in panic mode as well.

Kudos goes to Jack Barty who plays Jitters the butler. He doesn't get them he gives them. That tell tale gleam in his eye in eager anticipation of what is to come is broadly played.

So what happens? Literally saved by a bell. All four cast members, Stan and Ollie, Mae Busch and Jack Barty get a round of applause.

When a wealthy widow advertises for a new husband both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy decide to compete for her hand, with hilarious and unexpected results.

Absolute classic Laurel & Hardy, with the comedians at the top of their game, shelling out the non-stop slapstick humour amidst the rather dark elements (I. E. touches upon insanity and murderess) and there are too many great jokes such as the 'pick a card' and the bit when Oliver is trying to nap while Laurel is keeping an eye for the murderess who wants to slit Oliver's throat. There's a nice twist at the end.

There are some funny bits in "Oliver the Eighth," but also some jokes that don't work so well. This is very much a mixed bag of a film.

Plot In a Nutshell: Oliver, partners in co-owning a barbershop with Stan, is chosen by a wealthy widow to be her new husband, unaware she is a serial killer with a penchant to permanently dispatch men named "Oliver."

Why I rated it a '6': The film starts off in good form at the barbershop. The boys' idle back-and-forth banter is amusing, and Oliver's duplicity regarding Stan's letter was an interesting choice. When the action moves to the dark and foreboding widow's mansion, it's still working well enough. A quirky butler adds to the feel of the film....for a while. He eventually goes into an extended routine of pantomime/invisibility, where first a deck of cards and then all food and drink items at the dinner table are clearly non-existent, but he and the lady of the house pretend they are real.

I think, if this idea was limited to just a minute or two, it would have been OK. But the routine goes on and on and basically wastes any humor potential it had. Some of the reviewers here think this was the most hilarious thing they've ever seen; others (myself included) think it was milked for far too long and dragged the film down. All I can say is, watch it for yourself and decide. But IMO this was not comedy gold.

There is another bit where Ollie sees a foot at the end of his bed and somehow doesn't realize it is his. I'm not sure how that's possible. And the ending of the film is a direct copy of a previous short of theirs, "The L&H Murder Case." That was disappointing. In his anthology of L&H films, author William Everson shredded "Oliver the Eighth," calling it "a surprisingly dull and banal film." I don't think it's quite that bad, there are some funny moments here, but an unbiased viewer will know that this isn't their best work.

6/10. Would I watch again (Y/N)?: Only in parts. I would skip over the pantomime routine.

Stan and Ollie decide it's time to get married, especially since a rich widow is advertising for a husband. Stan writes a letter, but Ollie hides it under his hat so it never goes out. When they get to her mansion, Jitters, the butler, explains how there have been seven husbands already, all dead, all named Oliver. Of course, they end up trapped in the place and she is on the prowl with a very large knife. What follows is an effort to get out of there. Everything they can manage is used in the process. Stanley manages to screw things up time and time again. The ending is a little pat, but it doesn't matter because the whole thing is hilarious. Jack Barty as Jitters and Mae Busch as the grieving widow are some of the best of the supporting casts that have embraced these L & H films. Jitters is especially nutty with his magic tricks.

You can never go wrong when you throw in some mystery or a haunted house, especially with Laurel and Hardy. And don't forget legendary Mae Busch. A silly takeoff (in name only) to THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HENRY THE EIGHTH, released the same year.

Hardy gets mixed up with murderess Mae, whose last seven husbands were all named "Oliver." Only he doesn't know it --YET. Jack Barty, who worked with Stan Laurel in silent films, appears as Mae's eccentric butler, playing with an invisible deck of cards? There's also a funny scene with the boys being served dinner with empty glasses and plates, pretending to enjoy a hearty meal. Their next stop is to sleep in a creepy bedroom --waiting for Mae to enter to cut Ollie's throat!

Best bit is a "technical" gag scene where Hardy has to keep Stan awake. It involves a burning candle, a brick and a string. Where Hardy got the brick remains a mystery. Ollie rolls the string around the brick and hooks it above the candle. Next, Stan has to keep moving the string -- or else the string will burn and the brick will hit him on the head. Get it? Of course, Ollie gets whacked. His facial expressions throughout this film are priceless, let alone his moans and groans after nearly being shot.

On a sad note, Stan's brother, nicknamed "Teddy," died suddenly during filming. Teddy worked briefly as a film actor in the 1920s, but gave it up. In a bizarre accident, he died of a heart attack at the dentists office while being given laughing gas.

This film was co-written by Jack Barty, who also added dialogue to Laurel and Hardy's previous film, SONS OF THE DESERT.

Remastered dvd box set, both in black and white and in color. Thanks much to METV Plus for running these golden oldies every day. Also MOVIES Net on Saturday mornings.

When Oliver Hardy reads a newspaper advertisement about a young, wealthy widow who's looking for a husband, he applies. Stan wanders along. Little do they know until it's too late, that the young widow has married and killed seven husbands named Oliver already and that, even worse, its Mae Busch.

Miss Busch was born in Australia, moved with her parents to America as a child, and went on stage. By 1912, she had made her first movie. By the end of the decade, known as 'the Versatile Vamp' and prized by comedy directors for her aim with crockery, she was starring in dramas and comedies. She is best remembered, however, for her 15 appearances with Laurel and Hardy, from 1927 through 1936. She died in 1946 at age 54.

Oliver and Stanley own and run a barbershop. When Stanley sees an advertisement for male company from a rich woman he tells Ollie and they both write letters. Ollie posts his but hides Stanley. When the woman sees Oliver's letter she plans to take revenge on him for her first love – also Oliver – who broke her heart, just as she has killed seven other Olivers before. Oliver and Stan arrive assuming that they have it made but begin to suspect something afoot.

Can I ever get enough Laurel and Hardy? Probably not! This entry starts really well and is very funny despite tailing off a bit in the final 10 minutes or so. The opening is classic banter between the two men and with some really funny lines and the invisible food etc is all good. However the ending is more physical comedy that doesn't work as well as what went before. And the ending is a real cop out and just felt like they ran out of ideas for what to do next.

The two leads are very funny no matter what and are at their best when exchanging equally foolish dialogue. Barty is OK as Jitters but the whole `invisible' card thing didn't really grab me. Likewise no-one could accuse Busch of giving a subtle, comic or measured performance and just goes all out to leave the audience in no doubt as to her character.

Overall this is still funny but the ending didn't work very well for me and the last 5 odd minutes suffered in the same way. But for the most part I was laughing out loud and was happy to see service as normal.

i purchased oliver the eighth and the murder casebook together on one VHS tape(when they were first released)and for me they are two of the best short films ever made.they just compliment each other so well.in the murder casebook stan snubbs ollie and heads off to claim his inheritance.this is such a funny film,there is a killer on the loose in the house plus stan and ollie think the house is haunted.it never slows down at all...brilliant.then oliver the eighth,ollie replies to an advert in the paper of a lady seeking a husband,but has to be called oliver.anyway again it is fast and very funny,the lady turns out to be a serial killer who has killed 7 men all called oliver.the butler is a psycho(don't miss where he is serving the soup,class)the part where stan and ollie are in bed together,in my opinion goes down in folklore.especially when ollie thinks he sees a mans hand at the bottom of the bed.....legendary.

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), 'Oliver the Eighth' is nearly one of the best and funniest Laurel and Hardy efforts and very nearly one of my personal favourites of theirs. Their filmography had bumps along the way, but kept getting better and better from around 1929 onwards and 'Oliver the Eighth' exemplifies this.

Very little wrong with 'Oliver the Eighth' but did wish that the ending was more rounded off and was less resolved too easily.

'Oliver the Eighth' is non-stop funniness all the way, with one of the better first halves for any Laurel and Hardy effort at this point of their output. There is insane craziness that doesn't get too silly, a wackiness that rarely loses its energy and the sly wit is here, some of the material may not be massively innovative but how it's executed actually feels fresh, it is hilarious and it doesn't get repetitive. On top of the comic touches, there is genuine creepiness, tension and suspense as well as a great Gothic atmosphere. There is a surprising moody unpredictability unusual in Laurel and Hardy but works really well here.

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 from that point and in 'Oliver the Eighth' we are far from robbed of that.

'Oliver the Eighth' looks good visually with some nice Gothic touches, has 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. The supporting players are solid, with a fantastically nutty Jack Barty and Mae Busch at her scariest.

Concluding, great. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Laurel & Hardy again venture into the terrifying world of women when Ollie finds the world imploding upon him after being rash enough to listen to Stan.

Stroheim veteran Mae Busch sweeps along the hallways at night with murder in her eyes as a vengeful latter day Miss Haversham on a mission to settle a score with every Oliver that crosses her path.

As usual the boys were generous to their supporting cast, on this occasion old music hall comic Jack Barty who plays along with his crazy mistress while shuffling non-existent cards, serving soup on invisible platters and playing the last post to signal bedtime.

Oliver the Eighth (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Laurel and Hardy short has Hardy answering an ad in the paper by a woman looking for a husband. What he doesn't know is that she's a psychotic who will murder anyone named Oliver. Again, not too many laughs here but the thing remains entertaining anyways. The gag with the hand under the covers is certainly the highlight.

Our Relations (1936)

*** (out of 4)

All hell breaks loose in a case of mistaken identity when Laurel and Hardy's twins show up. This isn't nearly their best film but there are plenty of laughs throughout the short running time. The segments inside the bar are the highlights but I think the film would have been even better had L&H played the twins differently.