Laughing Gravy

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.

Laurel and Hardy sneak their dog, Laughing Gravy, into their room, despite the 'no pets' policy of landlord Charlie Hall.

The Boys seem to have been fond of the movie they could make about pets in boarding houses. They had already done ANGORA LOVE with a goat as their last silent movie, and would make THE CHIMP later, as well as dealing with gorillas, elephants, and Oxford undergraduates in their features. Here, they've got to deal not only with a desprately cold night, but Charlie Hall, like Stan, a graduate of the Fred Karno troupe.

The humor of Laughing Gravy operates on the premises that 99% of the audience are pet lovers. Therefore anything that Stan and Ollie do to keep their little pooch Laughing Gravy from being tossed out to the elements of winter is absolutely justified. Even if landlord Charlie Hall has a no pet rule in his establishment.

And so most of the film is spent with them trying to get the little guy past the watchful eye of Hall. Remember this is the dead of winter with snow falling on the ground. Best moment in the film is poor Ollie in his nightshirt falling into a rain barrel partly frozen over. I get susceptible to pneumonia just looking at him.

The last part of the film also has Laurel getting $1000.00 inheritance from his uncle providing he severs all connection with Oliver Hardy who has held him back for years. Funny thing is that those are precisely the words Ollie said about Stan.

The World Court in The Hague would have a problem deciding on the merits of counter lawsuit has to who held back who. You be your own judge.

Stan and Ollie do prove that friendship can survive a lot.

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.

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.