Blotto

This is a nice Laurel & Hardy short film, although you can not say there is a story. Laurel is married and wants to go out but his wife forbids him. Hardy calls Laurel a couple of times and after a while he speaks to Laurel's wife. She is nice instead of angry but has a plan of her own. She pretends to be in the kitchen while Laurel is talking but she also grabs a phone and learns about a plan the men have. This is the first part of the short.

The second part is the actual plan of Laurel & Hardy. They are on a night out but they have brought their own bottle of liquor. What happens there with the wife who knows where they are and their own bottle of liquor I will not reveal but it is a nice piece of comedy.

Maybe the premise doesn't sound very good, but there are a lot of laughs here. Especially Stanley Laurel is great and he manages to get a smile out of the most simple situations. Still, this is definitely not one of their best. Because it has no story it gets a little boring. Fortunately the final moment is hilarious and makes sure you will enjoy this short film from start to finish.

Ollie hatches a plan to sneak henpecked Stan out for a night on the town with Mrs. Laurel's hidden bottle of liquor. Unfortunately, Mrs. Laurel, played by the always reliable Anita Garvin, overhears the plot and substitutes the liquor for a distasteful combination of her making.

Fans and critics tend to be dismissive of film, but I have always found this film to be one of my favorites of their early talkie shorts. There isn't much of a plot, but the sequences are very well-constructed and funny. The interplay between Stan and Anita is very funny. (I like her much better than Linda Loredo, who plays the same role in the Spanish language version.) I also really enjoy Ollie's solo bits on the telephone. Those people who dismiss him as being Stan's straight man should watch that scene. His mannerisms and expressions are priceless.

The nightclub sequence is very funny as the boys proceed to get "drunk" on the illicit "alcohol." The best moment is when Stan is reduced to tears by a melancholy song. The boys would go on laughing jags later in the other films, but nowhere is it funnier than in this film, which also ends effectively with a big car gag -- as so many Laurel and Hardy films do!

Others may disagree, but I consider this a classic Laurel & Hardy short.

"Blotto" is one of the few underrated Laurel and Hardy shorts. Strange, when you consider that "Below Zero", one of there lesser shorts, to be much more highly appreciated. Stan Laurel in his solo scenes with Mrs Laurel (Anita Garvin) are a revelation. It is quite surprising, as you would have thought that without the other half of the duo, it wouldn't really be very funny. With so much talent for solo performances, I wonder why he entered into a partnership with Oliver Hardy? Still, the scenes later on in the film with Oliver Hardy are just as good and I can't think of any of their films (except the nineteen forties movies they made, under completely different conditions, which didn't allowed them any artistic freedom) that don't have at least a couple of riotous laughs in them. Also, its the only one of their films to have Stan Laurel married, but not Oliver Hardy. A film well worth seeing.

This short film's direction is twofold. One is to avoid their wive's control over them (they always seemed to have wives who were much smarter, and much meaner than them) by stealing some alcohol from them. The other is to see what happens to them as they drink the tea that has replaced the liquor. The title of the film tells us that someone is going to get really drunk. Of course, they have already blown it before they go to the bottle club (taking a risk during prohibition) because of Ollie's big mouth (he is overheard by his wife). Anyway, the scene at the club is hilarious because the power of suggestion is more powerful than the realities of the human body. This is laugh riot. Will they pay a price for their actions? That's the question.

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 'Blotto' as one of their best and a bit disappointing compared to their late 1928 and the best of their 1929 efforts, which were among their best and funniest early work. It is still very good and has much of what makes Laurel and Hardy's work as appealing as it is.

The story is extremely slight to the point of non-existence and the first part takes a little bit too time to get going and is a little formulaic.

When 'Blotto' does get going, which it does do quite quickly, it is great fun, not always hilarious but never less than very amusing, the best 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.

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 'Blotto' and on the most part from 'Two Tars' onwards we are far from robbed of that. Their comic timing is impeccable.

'Blotto' 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. The supporting players are solid with a scene stealing Anita Garvin.

Overall, very good. Not essential or classic Laurel and Hardy, but a very good representation of them. 8/10 Bethany Cox