Scram!

SCRAM!

Aspect ratio: 1.37:1

Sound format: Mono

(Black and white - Short film)

Ordered out of town by an aggressive judge (Richard Cramer), two vagrants (Laurel and Hardy) become involved with a drunken motorist (Arthur Housman) who invites them home. Unfortunately, he takes them to the wrong house...

Brilliantly constructed short film, directed by Raymond McCarey and scripted by H.M. Walker, in which L&H fall foul of the same judge on two separate occasions, with hilarious (and painful) consequences. Cast alongside some of the best comic actors of the day (Housman is note-perfect in his signature role, while Cramer plays it straight as the no-nonsense judge), L&H ply their trade with consummate skill, and the scene in which co-star Vivien Oakland gets blind drunk and sets off a chain reaction of uproarious laughter is a joy. Wonderful stuff, a highlight of L&H's distinguished career.

LAUREL & HARDY Comedy Short.

An angry judge orders vagrants Stan & Ollie to `SCRAM!' or they'll be locked-up. Before they can obey, a good deed performed for an inebriated millionaire precipitates the Boys into a crazy series of misunderstandings.

A hilarious little film. Highlight: the wild romp with the lady of the house. That's Richard Cramer as His Honor; Arthur Housman as the drunk; and Vivien Oakland portrays the lady.

Scram finds Laurel&Hardy being told to Scram, as in scram out of town. Judge Richard Cramer who has no tolerance for drunks and vagrants tells them to get out of town after they've been caught sleeping on a park bench.

In 1932 that would have gotten a lot of sympathy from the movie audience as it seemed about half the country had similar sleeping quarters. Still this judge is a mean one.

Fortunately they find an amiable drunk in Arthur Housman whom they help in true Stan and Ollie fashion break into his house and he invites them to spend the night out of the rain. In breaking in there are a whole treasure trove of gags.

Once in the lady of the house is not thrilled with their presence.

All I can say there is heed the words of Paul Newman who says it is best to use gin when drinking with a mark in The Sting. Water in a gin bottle is most effective. But in this case it's gin in a water jug. Also effective.

The last gag is the end to a perfect evening for Stan and Ollie.

A most timely Prohibition era short subject.

The sight of Stan and Ollie trying to help a drunk retrieve his keys from under a large grating on the sidewalk, is without a doubt one of the funniest visual moments in any of their movies. The great Arthur Housman, once again plays the screen drunk, just as brilliantly as he did in "Our Relations" and "The Fixer Uppers". It may lag a little in the mid section, but it soon makes it up in the end.

I would definitely recommend this to anyone. A film for all the family and only 20 minutes long. The film is seventy three years old and is as funny now as it always was. That's what make Laurel & Hardy so good, their comedy is timeless. The perfect film to introduce someone to the lovable duo.

A particular favourite of mine, 'Scram!' provides yet another reminder that the films of Laurel & Hardy were preCode in their acceptance of drunkenness at a time of prohibition - which provided Arthur Housman with steady employment for the duration and after - which serves as the mainspring for this priceless instalment of the pair's adventures.

Also in evidence is the generosity regularly shown to their supporting players. Vivien Oakland - usually a prim bluestocking - gets to drunkenly carouse with the boys scantily dressed. But the most memorable performance is easily given by toad-faced Richard Cramer - usually cast as a western heavy - who bookends the film as the judge with improbably flamboyant taste in pyjamas, who "hates drunken people" and whose scowling face at the film's conclusion is an absolute picture.