Scram!

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.

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.

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.

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 were in their prime when they appeared in Scram!, a terrific two-reel comedy that's funny from the start and builds to an uproarious finale of drunken mayhem. This is the one where Stan and Ollie are vagrants, ordered to leave town by an ornery judge (the magnificently irascible Rychard Cramer) who harbors a special hatred for drunks. When the boys come to the assistance of an intoxicated playboy (the supremely sozzled Arthur Housman) who has lost his car keys he rewards them with an invitation to his home, then takes them to the wrong address. Through a series of unfortunate misunderstandings the guys wind up sporting silk pajamas in the boudoir of the lady of the house (Vivien Oakland) and proceed to get her quite merrily intoxicated, only to learn, belatedly but in the most unmistakable fashion, that they are in the judge's house and the lady is his wife. Mayhem ensures, but it's strangely "innocent" mayhem where the guys are concerned.

Sounds nightmarish, doesn't it? Actually it's hilarious, really one of the best Laurel & Hardy shorts of all. Something I admire about their characters is their sincerity, the sense that they're just being themselves and never straining for a laugh. I love the way Ollie politely addresses the judge as "Your Highness," just as I love the way Stan always blurts out precisely the wrong thing at times like this. And it's amusing as ever to watch as the boys try to break into a house the hard way, in their time-honored fashion. But as wonderful as they are, a few words should be said on behalf of the supporting players in these comedies. Some of the key members of the stock company (i.e. Jimmy Finalyson, Mae Busch, Charlie Hall, etc.) appear frequently and often deserve co-star status, but the three main supporting players seen here, while not so well known, each make a major contribution toward the success of this short. Rychard Cramer is so scary in his brief appearance as the judge in the opening scene that his angry words seem to echo long after he's gone -- foreshadowing his return, which plays like something out of a Noir melodrama or even a horror movie. The perpetually hammered Arthur Housman is given a rare opportunity to perform an extended version of his drunk routine, and more than holds his own opposite Stan & Ollie. But it's Vivien Oakland who gets the best sequence, a prolonged and hilariously pointless laughing jag with the boys that makes the boudoir finale the highlight of the film. This scene is a guaranteed laugh-provoker that defies the viewer NOT to join in the hilarity.

At a time when most of their contemporaries were still struggling to adjust to the new technology of talkies, silent comedy vets Laurel & Hardy had already mastered the new medium and were funnier than ever. Their voices suited their screen characters perfectly, their comedy was enhanced by the delightfully bouncy music of Le Roy Shield and Marvin Hatley, and the supporting roles were filled by a crew of distinctive, gifted players who look like they're having the times of their lives. All these years after the films were made, that sense of fun still comes across.