Helpmates

"Helpmates" is one of a number of Laurel and Hardy short comedies based on the simple premise of seeing how much damage two men can do in one home in a short time without really trying. This time, Stan is 'helping' Ollie to clean up his house after a wild party, since Ollie's wife is due home soon. There is a lot of creative slapstick as they get into one mess after another. Most of the gags this time are fairly predictable, but are funny because they're done with good timing and the usual humorous mannerisms. Laurel and Hardy fans won't be disappointed by this one.

Finally, at long last, I have stumbled upon a Laurel and Hardy short that perfectly balances slapstick comedy and verbal banter to create a short that is a winning combination of the both, without being too reliant on the former. Helpmates concerns Hardy, who awakens after an evidently-raucous party took place in his apartment, with everything in total disarray and his wife coming home that very day. Hardy - after giving himself quite the hilarious lecture in the mirror - does all he can when he wakes up with a hangover and without a clue; he phones Laurel, who rushes over (after playing the most believable rendition of stupid and witless) to help his longtime pal clean up before the arrival of his wife.

Helpmates is the classic comedy short that derives its humor from the thesis question "just how much can go wrong for these two well-meaning individuals?" So much destruction and chaos is caused by trying to remedy the situation than was in the process of not even caring about the situation or the well-being of the house during the unseen party, it seems. Windows are broken, people are injured, and a cacophony of madness ensues for the boys as they try to do the right thing but end up doing everything completely and totally wrong.

Helpmates delicately balances the insanity with the narratively witty, setting up the short in a "one thing leads to another" manner rather than just having a plethora of ridiculousness cobbled together with no rhyme or reason. There's a structurally insanity to Helpmates that makes it so fun, and the age-old idea of destroying something even more when you're trying to fix it almost never gets old. This is one of the most fun Laurel and Hardy shorts I know, even more so considering it was a recipe for slapstick monotony.

Starring: Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Directed by: James Parrott.

When the cat's away the mice will play. This is true when Mrs Hardy goes out of town and Ollie has a huge party that sees his house a mess and his cash lost on poker games. When a telegram arrives telling Ollie that his wife is due back at noon that day, Ollie turns to Stanley for help tidying the house – that was his first mistake.

Similar in style to many of their other shorts, this film sees the duo's attempts to fix/tidy the house actually results in more damage than existed in the first place. The set up with Ollie addressing himself (but seems like it's the audience) is a little strange but once the film moves into the whole cleaning up business it does get a lot better. Ollie goes flying over a hoover on several occasions and his suit frequent changes grow increasingly amusing. It goes without saying that the degree of mishap that Laurel causes increases throughout the film and the punchline, although not hilarious, is a good conclusion.

In terms of cast Laurel and Hardy pretty much carry this themselves. Payson makes a brief appearance as Mrs Hardy but her role is to be plain and aggressive rather than funny. That said, the film doesn't really need anyone else as the pair do good work. Hardy bears the brunt of the physical work but also does good `to camera' looks. Laurel does his usual shtick but I always think he does a lot of work `off the ball' to use a football term. Because Hardy more often is the focus of the punchline (ie the look or the fall) I always tend to notice him and forget the involvement of Laurel in the set up or enabling the film to move on – that was the case here.

Overall this is an enjoyable short that sees the tried and tested formula of `chores go wrong' used to good effect.

This is classic Laurel and Hardy. The origin of Dumb and Dumber and an inspiration for generations of comedians and comedy writers, Laurel and Hardy were the masters of complicating easy tasks beyond the point of minor disaster. Often referred to as the fiddle and the bow, this comedy team started in the silent era with slapstick humor. Many of the comedies revolve around the destruction of cars, for which they found many ways to destroy. Upon the coming of the sound era, many silent stars lost work because of voice flaws (see Singin' In The Rain for a great example) or because they could only do visual slapstick comedy. Laurel and Hardy were able to transcend the silent era of slapstick and successfully incorporate witty dialogue in amongst their visual humor.

This two realer is classic as the Boys try and clean up after Ollie's wild party before his wife comes home. The ending of this short comedy has the funniest line of all time. As usual, Laurel and Hardy are their bumbling destructive selves, which of course leads to one laugh right on top of another. As Ollie says in the beginning while looking at himself in the mirror, "I have two words to describe you. Impossible."

Laurel and Hardy showed their greatness in classic shorts such as this. Slapstick with an economy of storytelling.

While the cat's away the mouse comes out to play and this big mouse, Oliver has thrown a party which has left his house in a mess and him with a hangover. Trouble looms as his wife is arriving home from a trip earlier than expected.

Oliver Invites Stan to help him clear up which leads to one disaster to another. Oliver would be lucky if his house is standing upright.

Both are at their bumbling best.