Scram!

I have seen all the films of L & H sometimes over and over. There are some weak shorts, but this is the one I keep coming back to to watch repeatedly. It is, in MHO, one of a handful of the best of their work in shorts.

It is brilliantly planned, masterfully timed, perfectly acted, and expertly edited. I often tell folks who are not familiar with the boys to watch this one as their introduction to the boys. It is THAT funny.

One of my favorite things about it is watching perpetually drunk Arthur Houseman utter what appear to be ad-libs that almost crack up Stan and Babe.

The boys have stood up Arthur and are going through his pockets trying to find the key to his house. He has a lot of pockets to go through. After a moment he tells Ollie, "Someday I'm gonna have all my pockets indexed." Cracks me up every time.

Vivian Okland is unforgettable as the judge's wife.

It was a sign of the boys generosity as actors that allows supporting players to get as many laughs as they get. They are the stars but not the only funny people in this.

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.

Convicted of vagrancy, Laurel and Hardy are give one hour to get out of town or be jailed. On their way out of town they meet a drunk who has lost his car keys. They help him find them and he takes them to his house, but given the trouble they have getting inside, is it even his house?

As usual Stan and Oliver are homeless and workless. Here they are forced out of a town but think they've landed on their feet when a drunk takes them into his luxury home. This plot gives the leads only really one type of humour to concentrate on – physical routines. That isn't a major problem as they are pretty funny is never exactly setting the world on fire.

However I always liked their dialogue together as it is often hilarious and well written to make them both look foolish. Here there is none of this worth speaking of. Both the leads do well and there's no doubting their abilities when it comes to falling over in amusing way.

Overall this is funny if you like L&H's physical stuff which I do, but I did feel like the job was only half done when their was none of their usual banter.

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.

This is a "vintage" Stan and Ollie film in more than one sense of the word as four of the five main characters in the story are innebriated for a large portion of the proceedings.

Token Hollywood drunk Arthur Houseman (an...ahem...method actor) is at his career best, and the boys are also on form. Watch for Stan's bewildered reply to the judge's question: "On what grounds?". It's a classic.

Richard Cramer is truly menacing as the judge, and the scenes featuring the judge's wife (played by Vivien Oakland) made me laugh out loud along with the characters.

8/10