The Tree in a Test Tube

WE HAD LONG ago screened this little curio of a hybrid one reeler. We say that it is a little film that owed its lineage to several different genetic sources. Our view is also shaped by its parents; being Mother Nature & Father Time.

PERHAPS IT IS a fine example of the old saying: "Too many Cooks spoil the Broth." The very blending of the varying talents and styles of Laurel & Hardy with the very dry and self-deprecation of Pete Smith's narration's being blended with the industrial & patriotic message that was the crux of the movie.

ADDED TO THIS curious blend is the uninspired use of color and the static camera's eye with the very plain backdrop of a parked auto in the 20th Century-Fox Studio's parking lot. Although the action is very brief, it soon wears thin and really drags. That the action is worked out from the thinnest of a premise.

ALTHOUGH THAT WAS the method that was most successful in bringing the World the best of the now Classic L & H silent and sound shorts; as well as being a chief ingredient in their Hal Roach features, this was not the 1920's or '30's and the team was now caught up in the studio contract system. This was a definite bane to that genre of comedies.

AS FAR AS any suspicion that the team did this for any financial remuneration seems to be specious at best. We must remember that it was World War II that was raging and affected everything. This was most likely a product of a donation of time and services from L & H, Pete Smith, 20th Century-Fox and MGM to the War effort, much in the same way that the JERRY LEWIS LABOR DAY TELETHON supported the Muscular Dystrophy Association.

It's surprising how old Laurel and Hardy look in this wartime propaganda short. They were only a few years past the prime of their career, but they looked like that period was about twenty years behind them.

Made in their lunch hour according to IMDb's trivia section, you can't help thinking they could have probably found more interesting ways of filling their time. The film consists of Pete Smith's voice telling them all about the different things wood is used for. There must have been a reason the US government felt it was important that the country should know about this, but you have to wonder why. Was it so people would be kinder to wood? Or perhaps they wanted people to stop hoarding it. Whatever the reason, the boredom quotient of the subject matter is counter-balanced by Stan and Ollie's presence - they're definitely the best thing about this short.

Regard Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy with great affection. They were very funny, often hilarious, and likeable with interesting distinct personalities that really shone when the material in their work played to their strengths (which it mostly did). They had a distinctive comedic style and their partnership was deservedly iconic. Much of their films, short and feature, were decent to wonderful, and most of their lesser efforts were still watchable to some degree. Misfires were in comparison to the rest of their filmography were not many.

'The Tree in a Test Tube' is one of their misfires. It is not only very bad Laurel and Hardy that in no way does them justice, it is also far from good on its own. As others have noted, the one notable thing about 'The Tree in a Test Tube' is the historical curiosity value. Aside from being a wartime educational short, it is most notable for being Laurel and Hardy's first and only short film in colour. Another reason to see it perhaps is if you are trying to see every Laurel and Hardy film for completest sake, being very fond of them that was my reason. That it was made very quickly and with not much care is obvious.

Will say that there is the odd very mildly amusing moment, though really just in the gesturing, and a couple of facts do educate.

Laurel and Hardy do try their best with severely wanting material and the music rouses.

However, both Laurel and Hardy are poorly served both individually and as a duo. None of what they are given plays to their strengths, like it was forgotten what made them so great, and they both look tired and bored and like they did it for a favour and money. They look very out of place in the war setting and even their chemistry is tired. One can tell visually that 'The Tree in a Test Tube' was made in a rush, with the garish colour not being kind to the duo and the photography indicating that those involved didn't have the proper time and resources to do it.

Next to nothing is funny here in a short where attempts at humour are far too few, apart from the odd gesturing, as said what made Laurel and Hardy so great seems to have been forgotten about and it is every bit as tired as the duo themselves. Not much is interesting, with things getting dull too early, and very little is educational, was only illuminated a few times while everything left me unsurprised and not very interested. It is also very heavy-handed, a common trap for war-time shorts, and the narration is both unnecessary and patronising.

Concluding, lacklustre at best and a deeply disappointing misfire. 4/10 Bethany Cox

Laurel and Hardy's short film "The Tree in a Test Tube" is a five-minute, partially-complete video from the U.S. Department of Agriculture concerning the ubiquity of products made or manufactured from wood or wood byproducts in the American economy at the time (1942, right near the end of World War II). The short focuses on Laurel and Hardy, seen in color, their only surviving color project known at this time, who are suddenly stopped by the voice of MGM announcer and producer Pete Smith, who asks the two men if they have any products made from wood on them. The two men shake their heads no in total bemusement, but realize, once Smith gets started on his didactic lesson, that between their wallets, shoes, and hats, they bear numerous products containing wood on them.

"The Tree in the Test Tube" is an interesting short for many reasons, other than being almost a blatant piece of World War II-era propaganda. For starters, as mentioned, it's the only surviving color film starring Laurel and Hardy. Secondly, this was shot on the backlot of Twentieth Century-Fox in November 1941 when Laurel and Hardy were on their lunchbreak. And, finally, this short was due to be lengthier, but the bulk of it was lost and never recovered.

Due to the clearer photography, which also benefits from color, we can see Laurel and Hardy begin to show their age in the short as well, with more wrinkles to their faces and the occasional mugs of sheer exhaustion on their faces. Nonetheless, they were troopers to commit themselves to this particular side project on their lunchbreak, and I have a feeling if they were alive today, they'd have to do a video showing how many of the products we use on a daily basis contain corn on the backlot of Warner Bros., just to even the score. This short is a curious piece of film and Laurel and Hardy history and should be viewed and judged on that more than the quality of the film and its overall story/goal.

Starring: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Directed by: Charles McDonald.

This brief wartime educational short is remembered today for one reason only: it offers the rare sight of Laurel & Hardy in color. (They also appear briefly in a surviving color trailer for the lost feature The Rogue Song, and in some 8mm home movie footage from the 1950s.) The Tree in a Test Tube was produced to promote wood conservation on the home front, and for some reason Stan and Ollie were recruited to appear in one sequence. If you're a die-hard fan it's worth a look, but be forewarned, it's a pretty depressing experience. The guys were past their prime, they didn't age well, and they seem quite out of place in the world of the 1940s.

The Laurel & Hardy sequence opens this film and was shot silent, with music and overbearing narration added later by Pete Smith of the "Pete Smith Specialties." Smith's films are generally amusing on their own terms, but the wise guy delivery he employs here is at odds with Laurel & Hardy's childlike style of humor. While the guys dutifully display various items in their wallets made from wood and wood by-products, narrator Smith yammers instructions at them like a drill sergeant; worse still, Stan and Ollie are the butt of his sarcastic quips. The closest we get to a gag comes when Stan finds a pair of nylons -- presumably Mrs. Laurel's property -- in his wallet, and feigns embarrassment while Smith chides him. The nagging narration evokes the spirit of the times, while the aging comedians seem like throwbacks to another era.

For what it's worth, the redness of Stan's hair and the blueness of his eyes are quite apparent here, even in the somewhat washed-out 16mm print I saw, while Babe Hardy's face appears far more tan than he ever looked in any of their black & white films. This short possesses historic value for its offbeat subject matter and the color cinematography, but for entertainment I'd much rather watch in the guys in their youthful prime in something like You're Darn Tootin' or Busy Bodies, great comedies that don't require any narration from Pete Smith or anyone else.