Another Fine Mess

L & H are on the run from the law. They are so broke they spent the night sleeping on a park bench. A nearby was not impressed with Stan after he addresses him as 'Ma'am'. They take refuge from the chase in the basement of Colonel Wilburforce Buckshot, who has just left to go on vacation to South Africa.

While hiding they pretend to be the owner and maid (Stan in his guise as Agnes) of the house when a new married couple (Lord Plumtree and his gorgeous wife) come around to rent the place. Obviously the usual hijinks and misunderstandings follow but the comic timing and Stan's indulgence in his Agnes disguise make it a half-hour laugh riot.

From the moment this movie begins we know we're in for something a tad unusual. In the early talkie days the folks at the Hal Roach Studio experimented with a new format for delivering opening credits: instead of simply filming title cards in traditional fashion, they built a spiffy Art Deco stage set, complete with proscenium arch, and hired a pair of young girls called the Crane Twins to march out onto the stage to deliver the film's credits verbally. The girls, who are dressed as bellboys, speak in unison at first, then alternate, then bow in tandem as they conclude. The effect is quite odd and (inadvertently?) funny, and kicks off Another Fine Mess on a curious note. The twins introduced several concurrently produced comedies featuring Charley Chase, Our Gang and the 'Boy Friends,' but this marks their only appearance in a Laurel & Hardy movie. I find the girls rather endearing myself, but in any case Roach's experiment with spoken credits didn't last long.

Enter Laurel & Hardy chased by a cop, and we're back on familiar terrain. And yet things aren't quite so familiar after all, for it soon becomes apparent that this film has a different feel from the average L&H comedy. There's an actual plot, comparatively little slapstick, and an unusual amount of verbal humor. It's no surprise to learn that Another Fine Mess was based on a stage sketch, because once the boys seek refuge in the house where most of the action takes place, it does indeed feel like a stage act is underway, as they engage in an extended routine involving disguise and mistaken identity, with some farcical elements included for good measure. Ordinarily Laurel & Hardy didn't place much emphasis on dialog humor as such, but here they do, and happily the material is pretty funny. (Interestingly, the sketch that served as this film's source material was written by Stan Laurel's father, who was a theatrical manager and playwright, though it was said that the old gent did not approve of this adaptation.) In any other L&H short the guys would've spent five or ten minutes trying and failing to enter the house, but this time they've got a rendezvous with The Plot and not so much time for physical shtick.

As it happens, the guys have taken refuge in the home of Colonel Buckshot, who has supposedly departed for Africa. His servants, who were entrusted to rent the place out, have also left for a weekend vacation. Complications ensue with the arrival of a honeymooning couple, Lord and Lady Plumtree, who are interested in renting the place. Even bigger complications are set in motion by Ollie's decision to open the door to the couple in order to get rid of them, which forces Stan to impersonate the butler, which in turn forces Ollie to impersonate Colonel Buckshot, which in turn forces Stan to impersonate Agnes the maid. That's what I love about this movie, that decisive moment that starts the ball rolling. All the guys had to do was ignore the doorbell and wait for the couple to leave, but then they wouldn't be Laurel & Hardy, and we wouldn't have this fine mess to enjoy.

It's amusing to watch Ollie brazenly attempt to assume the role of the wealthy Colonel Buckshot, behaving the way Ollie believes such people behave, and he's well matched by Stan's quick-change impersonations of Hives the butler and Agnes the maid. I especially enjoy the scene between Agnes and Lady Plumtree. We have to assume that Thelma Todd's barely suppressed laughter throughout the scene is genuine; I mean, playing opposite Stan in drag, listening to him ramble on and giggle nervously, who wouldn't crack up? While it's true that the musical score and sound effects used in Another Fine Mess are somewhat more emphatic than the typical Roach comedy of the period, as an earlier reviewer pointed out, I feel this gives the film an agreeably wacky, "cartoon-y" feel suitable to the situation. I love the moment when the real Colonel (Jimmy Finlayson, underplaying as usual) returns home and tries to grasp what has happened. His furious response prompts the silliest wrap-up ever contrived for a L&H short. It's a laugh-out-loud ending -- it was for me, anyway -- and it ensures this movie's status as a treat for comedy connoisseurs.

Circumstances of poverty force Laurel and Hardy to take refuge from the police in James Finlayson's mansion. But it might be a stroke of luck as Finlayson is about to depart for Africa to shoot big game. He gives instructions to the butler and maid to rent the place for six months, but they leave themselves on a short getaway.

Which gives Ollie the idea to masquerade as Finlayson and rent the place himself. Stan masquerades as the butler.

But when the boys meet with Charles Gerrard and his lovely bride Thelma Todd who knows a maid comes with the package, Stan has to get into drag and quick change drag at that to be both butler and maid. That provides for a series of incredibly funny situations.

Of course it's all a big bust for Stan and Ollie, but you have to see one of their funniest short subjects to see how it all goes bad.

Seeing Stan Laurel as Agnes the maid in this film is absolutely fantastic. I especially love his girlie chat with Mrs Plumtree on the sofa. This particular scene of the film illustrates Stan's adaptability to talkie films, and to situation comedy, where there is less of the usual slapstick.

I guess the use of more dialogue over slapstick in Another Fine Mess is due to the fact that it was thought that such comedy genre would be less funny, and therefore irrelevant to talkie films. Seeing Stan and Ollie with more dialogue to perform takes allot of getting used to. However, I think the duo pulled it off in this film Very good viewing!

Having just watched Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy work in a mansion in the silent short From Soup to Nuts, here they are again at another such place in the talkie short Another Fine Mess. This time, they're on the run from the police for sleeping on park benches and they end up in the cellar of the residence of one Colonel Buckshot (James Finlayson) who's leaving on vacation. When they find out that the butler and maid are also taking time off, and with a cop still on the lookout for them, Stan poses as both butler and maid and Ollie poses as the Colonel as a young society couple arrives to rent the place. The lady of that couple is played by Thelma Todd who'd appear in quite a few of the L & H shorts and eventually star in her own Hal Roach series with first Zasu Pitts and then Patsy Kelly. She's quite charming when she converses with Stan's portrayal of maid "Agnes"! Hardy as Buckshot also gets his charms when playing him when conversing with the man of the renting couple who has quite a funny laugh which gets quite a workout here, that's for sure! As for Finlayson, well, he only has the beginning and near the end scenes to appear but he does what he can in those scenes and make them count! All in all, Another Fine Mess was quite a funny L & H short. P. S. The twin ladies who recite the credits at the beginning are Beverly and Betty Mae Crane who served the same function during this period on all Hal Roach shorts like the Our Gang entries Teacher's Pet, School's Out, and Love Business which I've also reviewed on this site. So as we leave Stan & Ollie behind, we next will visit Bud Abbott & Lou Costello when they also come In Society.