Scram!

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.

Scram! (1932)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Since the jail is too full a judge orders Laurel and Hardy to get out of town within a hour. Outside the courthouse they help a drunk man who then offers to let them spend the night with him but the drunk takes them to the wrong house. Plenty a gags from start to finish in this very good short. The highlights include trying to get a key from a drain and the terrific ending where L&H get drunk with another man's wife.

Saps at Sea (1940)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Terrific Laurel and Hardy feature has Hardy suffering a nervous breakdown so Laurel suggests they go to the sea for peace of quiet. This doesn't work as planned but things get worse when an escaped killer kidnaps them. Clocking in at just around 57-minutes this here basically plays out as two shorts with the first half taking place at home and the second half at sea. The first half is a lot funnier but the ending is among the funniest stuff I've seen from any L&H film.

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.

The Laurel and Hardy short Scram! feels less like a new skit from the lovable and timeless comedy duo but a highlight reel of their most famous moments from all of their shorts. This particular short is packed with all the zaniness you can predict going into a Laurel and Hardy film, from repeated stumbles, difficulty getting sneaking into places, and a seriously deranged mix-up serving as the cherry on the sundae.

Scram! opens with Laurel and Hardy being ordered out of town by a judge after finding them sleeping on a park bench. In the process of leaving town, they run into a congenial drunk (Arthur Housman, who plays a wildly convincing drunk) who invites them back to his home to spend the night after they retrieved his key when it fell into a sewer. Despite being incoherent, the man manages to drive the two of them to the home of Mrs. Beaumont (Vivien Oakland), mistaking it for his own home. While the drunk mindlessly stands outside searching for the key to his home, Laurel and Hardy barge in through the window, being greeted with Mrs. Beaumont and proceeding to get drunk themselves when they inform her they know her husband, who happens to really be someone Laurel and Hardy have already found themselves acquainted with.

Scram! is all too familiar for a dedicated Laurel and Hardy fan, especially one who has seen their admittedly short range of physical comedy. All the aforementioned tropes make an appearance here or there, and their geniality could easily be mistaken for genuine humor. The moral of this particular short is just because you recognize the sight-gag or the ploy doesn't mean it's necessarily funny. If anything, the funniest part of the film is how much it got away with in 1932: drunk driving, breaking and entering, philandering, and two men in the same bed with one woman. Did the Motion Picture Association of America fall asleep when looking over the contents of the film making sure it was in line with the Hays Code?

Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Arthur Housman, Vivien Oakland, and Richard Cramer. Directed by: Ray McCarey.

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.