Laughing Gravy

LAUGHING GRAVY

Aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white - Short film)

During a heavy blizzard, boarding-house tenants Stan 'n' Ollie hide their dog from an unsympathetic landlord (Charley Hall) who threatens to evict them if they don't follow the rules. Chaos ensues...

Archetypal L&H comedy, played and filmed to perfection, as the boys' efforts to protect 'Laughing Gravy' meet with disaster at every turn. Ollie's attempts to get back into the house without being noticed by the sleeping landlord is only one of the film's many highlights, leading to a precarious rooftop episode (!) and a series of blunders and disasters. Fine comic timing, excellent set-pieces, great fun. Directed with typical gusto by L&H regular James W. Horne.

The film exists in three separate versions: It played theatrically as a two-reeler, following the elimination of a third reel in which Stan comes into an unexpected inheritance. This material has since been restored to a second version which omits the original's ending. A third edition - which appears to exist only in colorized form - contains ALL extant material, including the inheritance AND the original ending.

Laughing Gravy (1931)

*** (out of 4)

2-reel version

Laurel and Hardy try to hide their pet dog from the landlord. I wouldn't say this short is overly funny but there's enough fun moments to keep it entertaining. All the stuff with the landlord is good but the stuff with the dog doesn't work as well. Hardy falling in a barrel of water is certainly the highlight.

Laughing Gravy (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

extended 3-reel version

Foreign markets got this extended version with an extra reel, which really hurts the film. Nothing in this added reel is funny so it's no wonder why it was cut out in most places.

This is probably one of the more well-known of Laurel & Hardy's shorts. I remember when I was a kid this one was shown all the time – although without that extra reel, which wasn't re-discovered until 1985. They don't seem to show Laurel & Hardy shorts on TV anymore which is a real shame; there's a whole generation growing up knowing little about the duo.

In this one they try to conceal their little dog Laughing Gravy (possibly the only dog in cinema history to have a film named after him rather than the other way around) from their pint-size landlord, the permanently grumpy Charlie Hall. Of course, they're unsuccessful and when the landlord pitches the dog out into the snow, Ollie braves the elements to smuggle it back in. As always, the boys complicate things by attempting to haul Ollie up the side of the building using a couple of sheets tied together – with inevitable results. Although the snow is obviously fake and the location is a set, the film really does succeed in making you feel the cold as the boys slide around on the roof in their nightshirts.

There isn't that much dialogue in this film – or at least in the first twenty minutes – nearly all the humour is physical, punctuated by a number of long despairing looks into the camera from Ollie. Stan stares at the camera too on occasion, but you can tell there isn't much going on inside his character's head. He looks at the camera and you can almost hear the cogs creaking as they turn.

The laughs are pretty solid and arrive at fairly regular intervals until that final reel when things change entirely. It's not difficult to see why it was cut from the original because it just bears no relation to the rest of the film other than the fact that it is a protracted build up to a decent punch-line involving the dog.

Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, Morecambe and Wise, The Two Ronnies, Pete and Dud a.k.a. Derek and Clive, The Blues Brothers, Matt Lucas and David Walliams etc, etc these are just a tiny percentage of comedy double act's, the comedy duo's, that throughout the age's have entertained us all. Each with their own twist and turn of a gimmick that set's them apart, but in the final solution following, at times, the tradition of smart-aleck and buffoon.

However, there is just one pair that set themselves very much apart from the herd, originators and comic geniuses that no one has surpassed, surpassed by either skill, wit and personality the late, great Laurel and Hardy, British born Stan Laurel (1890 - 1965) and his American counterpart Oliver Hardy (1892 - 1957).

Their first outings were of the short silent movie variety, consisting of at least two reels in length, a reel being often around ten minutes long, this first short together was to be Slipping Wives (1927). Their first talkie was Unaccustomed As We Are in 1929, the advantage that both Laurel and Hardy had over most of their silent movie companions were that they adapted very well to this new genre. The Music Box (1932) won them an Academy Award for best short film, their only such Award.

Yet again, the famous Hal Roach Studios had a part in the making of Laughing Gravy, along with the writing credits to H.M. Walker (1885 - 1937) who with a vast order of merit as writer of dialogue and title creator for works for many of the silent, and not so silent, era's shorts. A snippet of Laurel and Hardy titles that includes Night Owls, Another Fine Mess, Below Zero, Brats and Our Wife. Directed too by one James W. Horne (1880 - 1942) whose career started out as actor way back in 1913, then progressed to writer then director of many, many shorts and full-length movies.

Then what about poor Laughing Gravy? Well, he, or more be it to the point she, went on to work with Laurel and Hardy twice more in Pardon Us (1931) and The Bohemian Girl (1936) as well as working in other Hal Roach (1892 - 1992) productions.

Laughing Gravy was filmed between the 2nd and 18th of February 1931 and released April 4th of the same year, and it is here, in this studio setting, we find this enduring duo shacked up in lodgings, one dark cold winter, and of course with their tiny pet dog Laughing Gravy, who has been sneaked into said bed-sit. It's in this predicament that poor old Laughing Gravy is finally found out by the mean spirited Landlord, with the assistance of the bungling and inept pair in the room above, of course.

So begins the absurd battle to retrieve this poor unfortunate mutt from the grasps of the freezing, howling winds and heavily snow ridden night. This is typical Laurel and Hardy starting out with good behaviour that very quickly turns to fanciful farce, with the ever blundering pair digging that inevitable hole so far deep that only sheer stealth and luck could bring them back over the edge and back to normality. Laughing Gravy is a wonderful insight into the world of this dynamic comedy duet, their antics and slapstick timing, and our joyful laughter at their own hilarious and often painful expense.

It is the ever-comic mental and physical abuse, which Oliver has to suffer, and suffer in silence, by the hands of his slimmer partner Stan, that makes this pair an extremely unfortunate accident-prone comedy act. It is Oliver's camera baiting, his looking directly into the audience and pleading for sympathy and understanding, and in this technique, this interacting with the audience, that has been turned into a powerful tool that both enhances the comedy and draws us into the plight. This alone, has Laughing Gravy warming our hearts to the duo's plan of action and its dire and hysterical results.

Around a week after initial shooting, extra scenes were added, a third reel, an extra ten minutes that does deviate from the first two reels, but non the less is just as funny in conjoining all three reels nicely, albeit a story in itself. This third reel had been lost for some decades, until the 1980's, and is now available as a full package. If sought out in the right places, the three different versions of Laughing Gravy, the original English language release two reeler, the three reel foreign language version (in English too) and now, the whole three reel's in 30 minutes of glorious computer generated colour can now be squandered at our leisure, for always.

Another fine mess? On the contrary, a fine comedy feast with lavishing of laughter and gravy.

Laurel and Hardy are still together despite having one empty pocket book between them. They have a reasonable room in a hostel but have to keep their dog, Laughing Gravy, hidden from the landlord else they'll be put out on the street. One winter's night, Gravy's constant barking threatens to expose them so they take action to keep him hidden – with limited success.

As always, the Laurel and Hardy shorts are perhaps less important for their plot than they are for the often wonderful sequences that the plot device allows for. Here the plot device is an `illegal' (in terms of contract) dog. The ways they try to hide the dog and the consequences of their actions are funny without being wonderful. As usual Hardy's (and a lesser extent, Laurel's) looks to camera make it all better than it actually is.

Unusually for their shorts, the conclusion of the story allows for a scene of touching honesty between the two, as Hardy becomes quite vulnerable with Laurel. This was a refreshing addition to the mix which, while not tear jerking, was unexpected. As always (for me anyway) Hardy steals the show with his looks to camera but Laurel is as subtle as ever. Charlie Hall is making a bit too much effort but is OK.

Overall this isn't the greatest of their work but it is a good example of everything I love about them as a duo. Their talents make this short better than it probably should be.