IT CAME FROM THE BOTTOM SHELF!

Stan & Ollie, a new biopic about the comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, starring Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly, is beginning its run in U.S. theaters.  While I’m happy that this new film is shining a deserved spotlight on these classic movie comedians, I’m not much interested in seeing the “cover band” myself (when I can easily watch the real thing).  Instead, the existance of the biopic has prompted me to launch into a extensive rewatch of the classic films of Laurel & Hardy.

Stan Laurel and Oliver “Babe” Hardy made 107 films as a team (72 silent and sound short subjects, 23 features, and 12 cameo appearances in films starring others).  Of those pictures, the titles that are most often mentioned in discussions of “favorite” or “best” are Two Tars (1928), Big Business (1929), Hog Wild (1930), Helpmates (1932), The Music Box (1932), Towed in a Hole (1932), Sons of the Desert (1933), and Way Out West (1937).  All of those mentioned titles are excellent, well-crafted comedies that are worthy candidates as the best of “the boys,” but the title that has soared to the top of my favorite list during my Laurel & Hardy deep-dive is the less often discussed Busy Bodies (1933).

The best of Laurel & Hardy’s films give the team a simple task (deliver a player piano, install an radio aerial on the roof, clean the house before the wife gets home, etc.) and then lets the fun begin as Stan and Ollie top poor decisions with inept actions, cumulating in terrific destruction. These films are all about the childlike, unbreakable bond between the boys and the “nice messes” that they make.  Busy Bodies fits well within this formula, and it is the ultimate example of their “overalls pictures” (a term borrowed from their biographer Randy Skretvedt), where Stan and Babe wreak havoc by playing with tools.

The plot is simple — The boys happily arrive at their new job… IN A SAWMILL!!!  As Stan and Ollie carpool to work, the filmmakers (director Lloyd French and editor Bert Jordan) brilliantly build tension with quick cuts of dangerous vehicles and lots of sharp, spinning buzzsaw blades.  Once the boys arrive at this danger factory, it takes very little time for mayhem to ensue.  Ollie, the marginally smarter off the two, bosses simpleminded Stan around, and Stan makes a series of mistakes, in which Ollie takes the brunt of the abuse.  Due to the variety of dangerous implements within reach, the stakes are higher than normal, and the slapstick is surprisingly violent at times.  Still, no matter how much Ollie suffers at Stanley’s hands, he always trusts his pal to fix things (which inevitably makes things worse).

By the mid-Thirties, studio head Hal Roach wanted to move away from producing short subjects, in order to make more prestigious feature films.  Consequently, he pushed his top comedy duo in that direction.  However, features never fit Laurel & Hardy, as greater length meant that their calculated destruction had to be padded out with unnecessary elements, such as plot and supporting characters.  Shorts, such as Busy Bodies, really showcase the comedians at their best — breaking things and causing chaos, while never losing their affection for each other — unencumbered and uninterrupted by subplots.

Another reason I particularly like this specific short is because the comedy in Busy Bodies emanates almost entirely from physical humor.  The boys became a team during the silent era, and while they transitioned well to talkies (both having voices that fit their characters well), they remained largely silent comedians.  Many of their sound films contain large stretches of (mostly) wordless pantomime, and some of the funniest moments in their films are when Babe turns to the camera to register a look of disgust or frustration.  Busy Bodies goes farther than most of the boys’ sound comedies in returning the team to its silent roots.  Stan doesn’t utter a word until eight minutes into the short (more than a third of the 19-minute running time).  And while Ollie gets a bit more dialogue in the introductory scenes, once the action starts, his verbage is mostly limited to yelps of shock or pain.

While Charle Chaplin, Buster Keaton, and The Three Stooges all engaged in destructive slapstick, Laurel & Hardy had a unique style that was all their own.  They weren’t as physically graceful as Chaplin or acrobatic as Keaton.  In fact, they often employed doubles or used dummies for the more dangerous stunts (and the obvious fakery was part of the joke).  They could be as violent as the Stooges at times, but because of Stan and Ollie’s obvious love for one another, their slapstick remained more refined and gentlemanly than that of Howard, Fine, and Howard.  Laurel & Hardy were masters of their craft, even though the craft was making a “nice mess,” and Busy Bodies is more than just “another nice mess.”  It is the very nicest of messes.

US/B&W-19m./Dir: Lloyd French/Wr: Stan Laurel (uncredited)/Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charlie Hall, Tiny Sandford, Dick Gilbert, Jack Hill, Charles Lloyd

For Fans of: If you love the comic violence of The Three Stooges, but you’ve never experienced Laurel & Hardy’s gentlemanly style of slapstick, this short is a good place to start.

Video: Busy Bodies and the majority of the sound films that Stan & Ollie made while under contract with Hal Roach (1929 – 1940) are collected in the 10-DVD set Laurel & Hardy: The Essential Collection.  Overall, the picture and sound quality of the films in the DVD set is good for movies of this vintage, but there is certainly room for improvement.  Happily, a major restoration of the existing negatives is underway by the UCLA Film & Television Archive through the Laurel & Hardy Preservation Fund.  This is a multi-year project, so there is no Blu-ray or digital release of these restorations currently planned.

Streaming: At the time of this review, Busy Bodies is not available as a streaming title as part of any standard subscription service.  However, it can be rented or purchased digitally through Amazon and other outlets.  Lower-resolution copies can also be found on YouTube and elsewhere, but beware of the colorized version of this B&W short.

More to Explore: Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy refined their “playing with tools” slapstick during the silent era.  A good example is the silent short, The Finishing Touch, in which the boys play carpenters hired to complete the construction of a residential house.  The short was included on DVD as part of The Lost Films of Laurel & Hardy: The Complete Collection, Vol. 1. Unfortunately, that disc is long out-of-print, and it can be very costly to purchase through secondary markets (such as eBay).  A lower resolution copy is viewable through Amazon Prime Video.

Trivia: While Stan & Ollie used stand-ins and dummies for some of their most dangerous stunts, they performed their own pratfalls, and they were not immune to injury.  On Busy Bodies, Oliver Hardy tore a ligament in his left shoulder and bruised a bone during his tumble from what is left of his car at the end of the film.

For more info: There have been a number of excellent books on the comedy team of Laurel & Hardy, but the gold standard is the beautifully illustrated 632-page tome Laurel & Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies by Randy Skretvedt, which provides copious behind-the-scenes information on the production of these classic films.  Mr. Sketvedt also edited The Laurel & Hardy Movie Scripts: 20 Original Short Subject Screenplays (1926 – 1934) which allows fans to see how these shorts changed from the script stage to the final filmed product.