With Love and Hisses

"With Love and Hisses" isn't really a Laurel and Hardy film. They weren't a team full time at this point and their scenes together aren't tailor-made ones. Even so, Stan does very well in the lead as a rather simple character who is drafted into the army. He was a natural for being a comic leading man and knows how to use his body in the Art of comedy. Poor Stan is on the receiving end of both Ollie as the bullying drill sergeant and James Finlayson as the ineffectual captain. The latter has quite a lengthy scene where he tries to teach Stan how to be an efficient soldier on parade. It is excellent slapstick and the timing is spot on. The ending is a riot after most of the soldiers manage to lose their uniforms! A comedy short that shows potential for all future Laurel and Hardy comedies.

This movie is a very early film with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, though it should not be mistaken for a "Laurel and Hardy" film. That's because Hal Roach still hadn't created the formula for their films together and they do not perform as a team. It's more a chance appearance of both in the same film--along with a chance appearance of their favorite nemesis, James Finlayson. And since the traditional formula hasn't been created, the play against each other instead of with each other. They are NOT pals like they almost always were in films. Ollie plays a drill sergeant who frequently takes out his anger on a new recruit to the army--Stan. Stan is the dumb guy he always is in later films, so his role isn't much of a stretch, but Ollie is pretty much a jerk. Plus, Ollie is a lot thinner and not totally unrealistic as a soldier--something the extremely rotund Ollie not very convincingly played in their later films.

The film itself is very episodic and has a lot of gags strung together in a little over twenty minutes. Most of these are only mildly funny, but fortunately, they get funnier as the movie progresses--culminating in a very funny segment where Stan, Ollie and several other soldiers have their clothes burnt up while they are skinny dipping. As a result, they have to try to sneak back in camp,....at the exact same time the big cheese is coming for an inspection!! Overall, this is a pretty good comedy. It's certainly not one of the funnier ones I've seen, but for what it is it succeeds pretty well. Just don't expect the familiar formula--it just hadn't been invented yet.

An early film featuring Laurel and Hardy. Their frequent nemesis James Finlayson is also featured in the film. What makes this film interesting is that Laurel and Hardy are not friends,and had not yet become the comedy team they would become later. There's a few good laughs to be had in this film. I disagree with some of the other reviewers who are more negative than positive about this film. There's some good gags and physical comedy. James Finlayson takes some spills that are quite funny, but nothing out of the ordinary for the genre. With Love and Hisses has all the classic gags: the hat flying off the head, spills, kicks in the rear end etc. Though this is clearly not their best, its still better than a lot of other silent comedy I have seen.

Pre-team Laurel and Hardy silent,with Stan as an effeminate private,being bullied by Sergeant Banner(Ollie)and General James Finlayson.There is virtually no plot,and a lot of the humour on show is of a surprisingly vulgar,broad nature,involving putrid garlic and swollen posteriors,amongst others.Again,the boys are cast as enemies rather than friends,though Ollie's behaviour towards Stan is slightly friendlier in the second reel.Bizarrely(and pointlessly),a poster of Cecil B.De Mille's film THE VOLGA BOATMAN(1926)is used for a gag later in the film.They weren't a team yet,but would be in several films'time when they would be shoulder-to-shoulder buddies.

In this short, Stan Laurel is an Army private, Oliver Hardy is the bombastic sergeant, and James Finlayson is the flustered captain. Stan and Ollie aren't quite the friends they would be in later films but there's still some funny scenes when they're together as well as when either are against Fin, that's for sure! The version I watched on YouTube used the music scores usually heard in their talkies as well as sound effects and their voices from those subsequent films. I liked most of the results especially when those sound effects went into play on many of the physical gags. Also appearing was Anita Garvin as one of Fin's girls though she didn't do anything that would be considered funny here. So I say, give With Love and Hisses a look if you're an L & H fan.