Dirty Work

This is an unusual Laurel & Hardy comedy with something of a split personality: at times it feels like two movies made in different styles spliced into a single short. Happily, each portion is funny in its own right, and the boys' seemingly effortless clowning carries the day and synthesizes the film's disparate elements into an entertaining whole. While I've never heard any Laurel & Hardy buff cite Dirty Work as an all-time favorite, it's nonetheless one that everybody seems to like.

Our story is set in the home of Professor Noodle, who represents one element of the story-line: a wildly over-the-top parody of Mad Scientist tales. This marks a rare venture into sci-fi territory for L&H; Abbott & Costello and The Three Stooges tangled with mad doctors far more often than Stan and Ollie. In any event, the professor is obsessed with creating a rejuvenating serum that can make people younger, while his sardonic butler, Jessup, expresses skepticism with rolled eyes and the occasional dry quip. Meanwhile, Stan and Ollie are chimney sweeps who show up at the Professor's home the very day he perfects his solution. "Their" portion of the film consists of characteristic (but first-rate) slapstick involving the chimney, the roof, shovels, and a number of unfortunate mishaps. If you don't enjoy watching the boys screw up a task then you probably won't like Dirty Work, but for fans of the team this movie is a feast. The highlight comes when Ollie plummets through the chimney, lands in the fireplace, and is then pummeled with bricks that fall onto his head with maddening, rhythmic precision, one by one. I also like the shot of Ollie tumbling off the roof into a greenhouse; the process work is so rudimentary I suspect it was something of an inside joke, in the way that W.C. Fields' movies would boast the world's worst rear projection screens.

The slapstick stuff is great fun, but it's the mad scientist motif that makes this film memorably offbeat, and two supporting players deserve a tip of the bowler hat: prolific character actor Lucien Littlefield is terrific as Professor Noodle, delivering his overripe lines with relish and cackling with glee, while Sam Adams is a stitch in the less showy role of Jessup the butler. As great as Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were in their prime, it's always worth noting that their supporting players at the Hal Roach Studio gave their films an enormous boost. So too, usually, did the background music of Le Roy Shield, but Dirty Work marks a rare occasion from this period that a Roach comedy has no musical accompaniment at all after the opening credits. Mood music might have enhanced the proceedings, but the lack of it is no great flaw. This is a highly enjoyable comedy, a prime example of what made Laurel & Hardy so popular in their day -- and long beyond it.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were comedic geniuses, individually and together, and their partnership was deservedly iconic and one of the best there was. They left behind a large body of work, a vast majority of it being entertaining to classic comedy, at their best they were hilarious and their best efforts were great examples of how to do comedy without being juvenile or distasteful.

Although a vast majority of Laurel and Hardy's previous efforts ranged from above average to very good ('45 Minutes from Hollywood' being the only misfire and mainly worth seeing as a curiosity piece and for historical interest, and even that wasn't a complete mess), 'Two Tars' for me was their first truly classic one with close to flawless execution. Didn't find 'Dirty Work' quite one of their very best, but it to me still very good.

Admittedly, the story is pretty thin, in fact there's not really much of one, and is pretty standard.

It was something of a turn off seeing Hardy have an atypically unlikeable character, he does very well but the type of character doesn't suit him, he works better as a bumbler.

Despite that, 'Dirty Work' is great fun while also having a definite degree of substance, never less than very amusing and the best moments being classic hilarity. It is never too silly, there is a wackiness that never loses its energy and the sly wit is here, some of the material may not be new but how it's executed actually doesn't feel too familiar and it doesn't get repetitive. It's all simple but it is effective in its simplicity without feeling too thin, Professor Noodle adds lots of fun and conflict. The ending is a little abrupt but great fun as well.

Laurel and Hardy are on top form here, both are well used, both have material worthy of them and they're equal rather than one being funnier than the other (before Laurel tended to be funnier and more interesting than Hardy, who tended to be underused). Their chemistry feels like a partnership here too, before 'Two Tars' you were yearning for more scenes with them together but in 'Dirty Work' and on the most part from 'Two Tars' onwards we are far from robbed of that. Their comic timing is impeccable. Hardy is still funny even with a different and not so appealing character.

'Dirty Work' looks good visually, is full of energy and the direction gets the best out of the stars, is at ease with the material and doesn't let it get too busy or static. The supporting cast support them well, with a fantastically nuts Lucien Littlefield being a terrific adversary.

Concluding, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Laurel & Hardy are working as chimney sweeps in this one, and they're summoned to the house of a slightly potty scientist who is working on a rejuvenation serum. Ollie spends much of the film trying to stay as far away as possible from Stan by working on the roof while Stan remains in the house, but working at the top end of a stick when Stan's at the bottom isn't a good idea, and it's not long before Ollie comes crashing down the chimney.

I wonder how much time was spent calculating the exact right moment to drop each brick onto Ollie's head to get maximum laughs as he sits at the bottom of the chimney. Possibly Stan, as he was the creative force in the partnership. If it was him, he got it exactly right. It's a small detail, almost inconsequential, but if it had been mistimed it wouldn't have been half as funny.

The potty professor's sarcastic butler is also pretty funny. 'You'll find it in there, standing against the wall,' he dryly informs Ollie when he enquires as to the whereabouts of the chimney.

Laurel and Hardy are chimney sweeps. They come to the house of research scientist Professor Noodle and set about ineptly trying to sweep his chimney – causing more damage than doing work. Meanwhile the slightly unhinged Noodle carries out tests on a potion that reverses the ageing process.

I'm slowing becoming a big fan of Laurel & Hardy. This is about the tenth short film of theirs that I have seen in the past month and I have enjoyed them all with only a few minor reservations. This is no exception. The simple set up give way to the jokes you expect and no real surprises, in fact at least two of the gags are so signposted you see them miles away. It's a credit to their delivery that it's all still very funny!

Both Oliver and Stan have great skills – whether it's Ollie's looks to camera or Stan's whimpering, all delivery is hilarious and average jokes are hilarious in their hands. The side plot of the potion is intrusive a little because we keep leaving the cleaning process to watch Noodle mix the potion but it does build to a funny climax so it is pretty much worth it.

Overall, fans of this wonderful duo will be pleased with this short as it is just what you expect from them – good routines, funny jokes and great delivery.

This Laurel & Hardy short comedy features two subplots that come together towards the end. Stan and Ollie are chimney sweeps, working at the home of a mad professor. As the professor is busy trying to perfect his latest wacky formula, the boys are raising havoc with their attempts to clean out his chimney. The subplot about the professor's secret formula is only mildly amusing at most, and is really there only to set up one gag at the end. But the chimney sweep scenes are another very funny instance of how many laughs that Laurel and Hardy could get out of one simple situation. They use the props and setting with their usual creativity. Overall, this is quite entertaining.