Charlie Hall
Film historian Robert Youngson presents a feature-length anthology of rarely seen silent films by comedy legends Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Along with clips from many of the shorts that made the duo stars, it includes clips from a 1918 comedy starring Laurel on his own as well as scenes from three shorts Hardy made in 1917 and '18 with his original comedy partner, Billy West. To put the duo's work in context, the film briefly features other comedians who worked with producer Hal Roach.
Two bumbling plumbers are hired by a socialite to fix a leak. A case of mistaken identity gets the pair an invitation to a fancy party and an entree into high society. As expected, things don't go too smoothly
When the family radio goes on the fritz, Edgar, naturally, decides to fix it himself in order to save a few bucks. That Edgar will destroy the house doing this simple project is a foregone conclusion.
Errol is mistakenly involved in the raid of a burlesque show where he had innocently gone in order to hire some talent, including a fan dancer, for his lodge show.
Aspiring singer Ann Carter visits her stepbrother in New York, hoping to make it on Broadway.
Honeymoon Lodge is a musical variation on the old Awful Truth plotline. Divorce-bound Bob and Carol Sterling (David Bruce, June Vincent) make a last-ditch attempt to avoid their legal breakup by restaging their mountain-resort honeymoon. Things get complicated when a rancher named Big Boy (Rod Cameron, in a Ralph Bellamy-style "sap" role) shows up at the resort in ardent pursuit of Carol, while Lorraine Logan (Harriet Hilliard) sets her cap for Bob.
Circumstances arise that result in a man impersonating his uncle. As the "uncle", he finds himself pursued by his girlfriend's aunt, who does not approve of their relationship.
A police reporter solves a murder case in Chicago, then moves on to St. Louis-but not voluntarily, since he has been kidnapped by the minions of the Windy City gang leader (Max Hoffman Jr.) against whom he is scheduled to testify.
Edgar decides the 4th of July fireworks celebration in town is too much for his nerves, and he and his wife Sally and her brother will take a nice drive out into the countryside and have a nice, peaceful picnic. His first mistake is inviting the sons of his neighbor to go with them, and his second is picking an Army artillery firing range as the location of the picnic.
Olsen and Johnson, a pair of stage comedians, try to turn their play into a movie and bring together a young couple in love, while breaking the fourth wall every step of the way.
Story concerns railroad tycoon J.B. Matthews (Jed Prouty) taking over a rival line, being sent on an R&R vacation by his doctor, falling off his private train-car and landing in a hobo jungle occupied by Faylen and Hall, and being cured of all his ills, while reporter Jimmy Dugan (Frank Albertson) poses as a doctor in order to get an exclusive story about the railroad takeover.
Edgar tries his hand at making pies for Vivien's charity bazaar with predictable results.
Frank Faylen and Charlie Hall (a longtime Laurel & Hardy foil) star as Dolan and Doolittle, a pair of goofy druggists who join the army to escape the wrath of bill collector Mulligan
An advertising executive and his temperamental wife adopt a war orphan who turns out to be a beautiful woman.
Self-crowned king of a gray-walled world of treacherous men... He out-schemed, out-talked, out-fought them all!
Jim "Lucky" Moore, an insurance salesman, comes up with a novel policy for his friend, Steve: a 'love insurance policy', that will pay out $1-million if Steve does not marry his fiancée, Cynthia. The upcoming marriage is jeopardized by Steve's ex-girlfriend, Mickey, and Cynthia's disapproving Aunt Kitty. The policy is underwritten by a nightclub owner, Roscoe, who sends two enforcers - Abbott and Costello - to ensure that the wedding occurs as planned.
Longtime school sweethearts discover married life, thanks to a disagreeable live-in mother-in-law and pressing business obligations, is more rocky than idyllic.
Edgar starts a trailer vacation with his wife Vivien and father-in-law, but doesn't get far before they are overtaken by two men from the finance company, who repossess the trailer for non-payment. Edgar discovers that Pop had failed to mail the money order he had given him for the payment. He also finds some other items Pop failed to take care of.
The boys get jobs as a butler and maid (Stan in drag) for a dinner party. When that ends in disaster, they resort to sweeping streets and accidentally capture a bank robber. The thankful bank president sends them to Oxford to get an education. Predictable results ensue.
Ellie Mae lives on Primrose Hill with her good-hearted and fancy free mother, her drunken father, her younger sister and a mean-spirited grandmother. The Hill is not a good part of town, however. When she meets and falls for a hard-working man, they marry and she hides her past from him. When he discovers the truth it jeopardizes their marriage.
Dennis heads west to work on an important business deal minus the Mexican Spitfire, Carmelita. His hot-tempered spouse decides to surprise him, but ends up as the surprised one when she sees him with another woman. Instead of a second honeymoon, Carmelita begins divorce proceedings
Newlyweds Dennis and Carmelita have several obstacles to deal with in their new marriage: Carmelita's fiery Latin temper, a meddling aunt and a conniving ex-fiancee who's determined to break up their marriage.
Two theatrical producers plan to get even with a demanding actress by tricking her into starring in the worst play they can find.
Stan and Ollie work in a horn factory. Ollie starts having violent fits every time he hears a horn. His doctor prescribes a restful sea voyage. Mayhem ensues.
A good nurse ruins her career by covering up for her sister's careless mistake.
Polly Parrish, a clerk at Merlin's Department Store, is mistakenly presumed to be the mother of a foundling. Outraged at Polly's unmotherly conduct, David Merlin becomes determined to keep the single woman and "her" baby together.
Twelve people are aboard Coast Air Line's flagship the Silver Queen enroute to South America when the airplane encounters a storm and is blown off course. Crashing into jungles known to be inhabited by head hunters, pilots Bill and Joe race against time to fix the engines and attempt a take off. The situation brings out the best and worst in the stranded dozen as they create a makeshift runway and prepare to escape before the natives attack. But damage to the plane and low fuel reserves means that only 5 people can be carried to safety.
Producer Bob Temple, who's brought an American show to London, loves his star Diana, but she won't take him seriously as a lover. To show her, he picks up stranger Lady Arlington, whose financier husband neglects her. On a weekend at the Arlington country house, Bob is used by both Lady A. and her friend to make their husbands jealous; this works all too well, and Bob is in danger from both husbands.
An Irish convict sentenced to hard labor in Australia escapes into the outback, and organizes a band of fellow escapees to fight a corrupt landlord.
Paris, France, 1482. Frollo, Chief Justice of benevolent King Louis XI, gets infatuated by the beauty of Esmeralda, a gypsy young girl. The hunchback Quasimodo, Frollo's protege and bell-ringer of Notre Dame, lives in peace among the bells in the heights of the immense cathedral until he is involved by the twisted magistrate in his malicious plans to free himself from Esmeralda's alleged spell, which he believes to be the devil's work.
While working as a porter Benjamin Twists mistakenly ends up on a cruise ship heading for the USA. Upon landing on the American coast Twist takes up work as a professor.
Ballet star Petrov arranges to cross the Atlantic aboard the same ship as the dancer and musical star he's fallen for but barely knows. By the time the ocean liner reaches New York, a little white lie has churned through the rumour mill and turned into a hot gossip item—that the two celebrities are secretly married.
Two sailors get caught in a mountain of mix-ups when they meet their long-lost twins. Laurel and Hardy play themselves and their twins.
Thelma volunteers Patsy as a subject for her friend who is in dental school and needs somebody to practice on.
Stan and Ollie stow away to Scotland expecting to inherit the MacLaurel estate. When things don't quite turn out that way, they unwittingly enlist in the Scottish army and are posted to India.
Oliver's in trouble with his wife after missing a payment on their furniture, having given the money to Stanley, who used it instead to pay Mrs. Hardy for his room and board. At Stan's suggestion Ollie then withdraws the couple's savings from the bank to pay for the furniture and inadvertently pays virtually the whole amount at an auction for a grandfather clock which is soon crushed under a passing truck. Mrs Hardy then unintentionally causes serious injuries to Ollie requiring him to be rushed to hospital for a blood transfusion. The doctor conscripts Stan to be the unwilling blood donor. Problems occur with the transfusion and when Stan and Ollie leave the hospital they appear to have morphed into each other.
At a residence hotel, Patsy is moving in with Thelma. Thelma has prepared some rules, including singing whenever one feels quarrelsome or angry. Although Thelma tells Patsy that they'll share everything, there's precious little closet or drawer space for Patsy's clothes, little room to maneuver around Thelma in the bathroom, and then a sleepless night for Patsy when Thelma goes sleepwalking. Can they share and share alike, or will Patsy keep on singing?
Stan & Ollie have set up their own electrical repair store. Unfortunately, for them, the grocery store opposite is run by the man and wife they encountered in Them Thar Hills (1935). Stan & Ollie go and visit, to offer the hand of friendship, but the grocer becomes convinced that Ollie is trying to seduce his wife.
Ollie Dee and Stanley Dum try to borrow money from their employer, the toymaker, to pay off the mortgage on Mother Peep's shoe and keep it and Little Bo Peep from the clutches of the evil Barnaby. When that fails, they trick Barnaby into marrying Stanley Dum instead of Bo Peep. Enraged, Barnaby unleashes the bogeymen from their caverns to destroy Toyland.
Thelma and Patsy get jobs demonstrating washing machines in a department store window. However, on their first day on the job, they accidentally get locked in the store overnight.
Betty's father has an invention that looks like a fancy camera; it emits an ultra-lavender ray that temporarily rids the ray's target of inhibitions. To test it, Betty's father zaps Charley hoping his newly-aberrant behavior will cause Betty to end her affections for the milquetoast. Dad's plan backfires: the invention works perfectly, Charley gets a backbone, and Betty loves her new forceful man. However, Charley's courage and lack of a superego get him in trouble with the law. He goes on trial for assaulting a bullying police officer. Is Charley going up the river leaving Betty high and dry?
Patsy tries to stay with Thelma at the hospital where she works, but Thelma is forced to pretend that Patsy is a patient.
The Blondes and Redheads series, June's father forbids her to see her boyfriend, so she sneaks him into the house disguised as a woman. One of her father's friends, however, falls in love with the mysterious young "woman".
Fish market workers Stan and Ollie are persuaded by a sea captain to shanghai a crew for him at the local bar for a dollar a head. Successful at first, the boys end up getting themselves shanghaied, and the crew vow revenge.
Florence wants to recapture the romance in her marriage and talks a reluctant Edgar into redonning his navy uniform and serenading her.
Thelma, who came to Hollywood from Joplin to be a star, is ready to go home. She and her pal Patsy are packing up and packing it in. Then, through Patsy's deviousness, Thelma gets a call to come to the studio immediately to audition for a costume drama.
Big Boy Williams is a gangster who is smitten with the two girls in the next apartment. With the help of his violinist friend Grady Sutton he gets acquainted with the girls by posing as a musician.
At a ritzy beauty salon, while a mud pack is on her face, a wealthy socialite invites Thelma and Patsy, two salon attendants, to a party, mistakenly thinking they are social acquaintances whom she wants to entertain a visiting count. Just before our working-class pair arrives at the party, the hostess is called away to see to an ill dog. Thelma tries to behave in a refined way, but Patsy, with a head full of practical jokes and a bra filled with trick gadgets, turns the party on its head. The butler calls the hostess back to her home. Is Thelma and Patsy's moment in high society coming to a crashing end?
Two yokels try to crash royal society by posing as the King's physicians.
The story involves Stan and Ollie traveling to the mountains for Ollie to recover from gout. They park their caravan near a cabin of moonshiners; the moonshiners dump their brew in a well, which Stan and Ollie proceed to drink from, thinking that it is healthy mountain water.
Thelma wins a screen test with a Hollywood studio, but trouble ensues on the train trip out there.
Ollie and Stan deceive their wives into thinking they are taking a medically necessary cruise when they are really going to a lodge convention.
Instead of delivering some fancy dresses to a customer, the girls wear them to a party.
Barbers Willy Nilly and Hercules Glub have opened a barbershop in an Indian reservation, where they have no customers. When suddenly a white man asks for a shave, several Indians of the Oopadoop nation also enter, hearing the usual barbershop banter about foreign debts, they force them to be ambassadors of their nation at the Peace conference in Geneva. Ammunition industry executive Winkelreid is scheming to prevent their mission becoming an success, but the vamp Dolores aboard the ship fails, falling in love with Nilly, and so does Fifi, the toughest person of the world in Paris, falling for Glub. Although Winkelreid is able to steal their secret papers, Nilly and Glub don't give up after being reminded by constant observation of their Indians and enter the Peace conference, which turns out to be a battlefield...
Bobby Clark and Paul McCullough star as a couple of wacky soda jerks. They do a high wire act while delivering a much needed pair of pants to their boss.
In this short film, Laurel and Hardy wage battle with inanimate objects, their co-workers, and the laws of physics during a routine work day at a sawmill.
On the morning of his wedding to oil baron Peter Cucumber's daughter, Ollie receives a jigsaw puzzle from Stan as a wedding gift. The boys soon become absorbed in the puzzle. A taxi driver, butler, policeman and messenger boy join in as well.
Hal Roach comedy starring Billy Gilbert and Billy Bletcher. Also starring Don Barclay, Charley Rogers, Ruth Gillette, Theodore Lurch, Charlie Hall.
Harry Sweet stars as a hick Olympic hero who is housed in a high society mansion and causes havoc to the high brow party in progress.
A small country on the verge of bankruptcy is persuaded to enter the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics as a means of raising money.
The girls and their pet monkey create havoc on board a train carrying a traveling Broadway troupe.
Mickey and Grady are left behind when a new kid comes to town and all the girls fall for him.
The Laurel & Hardy Moving Co. have a challenging job on their hands (and backs): hauling a player piano up a monumental flight of stairs to Prof. von Schwarzenhoffen's house. Their task is complicated by a sassy nursemaid and, unbeknownst to them, the impatient Prof. von Schwarzenhoffen himself. But the biggest problem is the force of gravity, which repeatedly pulls the piano back down to the bottom of the stairs.
Stan and Ollie check into a seedy hotel and help a young girl escape the clutches of the landlord (Long). They are forced to flee the hotel with no money and Ollie arranges for Stan to fight at a local boxing hall for $50. Stan's opponent turns out to be Musgy who uses a loaded glove. During the fight the glove is swapped and Stan triumphs only to find that Ollie has bet their fee that he would lose.
The story begins in 1917 with Stan and Ollie being drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in World War I. While in the Army, the pair befriend a man named Eddie Smith, who is killed by the enemy during a battle. After the war is over, Stan and Ollie venture to New York City, where they begin a quest to reunite Eddie's little daughter with her rightful family. The task proves both monumental and problematic as the boys discover just how many people in New York have the last name Smith.
College baseball player Mickey Daniels can't keep his mind on the game when he's got an eye for the ladies.
Zasu and Thelma are working their way through college by selling magazine subscriptions. Finding little success going door-to-door, the pair decide to use their charms to sell to men at their places of work.
Juror Zasu accidentally swallows a piece of evidence which just happens to be a time bomb.
Stan and Ollie try to hide their pet dog Laughing Gravy from their exasperated, mean tempered landlord, who has a "No Pets" policy.
Charley's in love with the daughter of a financier who wants her to insist that Chas have a pile of cash before she marries him. But, the Depression is everywhere: Charley's behind on his rent and nearly everyone he meets is down on their luck. After reading a "how to" book on the power of a forceful will, Charley applies the lessons with mixed results, but he does land a job that includes delivering a shake-down letter to his girlfriend's father. Is the naïve Charley going to end up in jail?
Charley agrees to go on a blind date to help out his roommate. But because his last such date turned out badly, he goes all out trying to make himself look bad. He refuses to shave, wears his friend's old suit and even eats garlic. Unfortunately for him, however, his date turns out to be the lovely Thelma Todd.
Ollie is running for mayor and an old flame threatens to blackmail him. Only a Spanish language version was shot simultaneously with the English language version. Laurel and Hardy learned their parts phonetically, so they are actually speaking Spanish. The leading ladies) in the English version were usually replaced with native Spanish-speaking actresses--in this film they are Rina Liguoro, Linda Loredo and Carmen Granada. - En Espanol: Hardy, un exitoso hombre de negocios, recien cassado, se postula para alcalde. Inesperadamente lo visita una ex-novia quien amenaza con chantajearlo. Laurel, su amigo y socio se ofrece a ayudarlo para mantener a la jujer lejos de Hardy. De todas modos ella irrumpe en el hogar de Hardy y es aqui cuando comienzan las complicaciones en esta clasica comedia de Laurel y Hardy. - This is the Spanish language only version.
Stan & Ollie (speaking phonetic French!), having been kicked out by their wives on a wintry night, attempt to smuggle their little dog into an apartment house where dogs are not allowed.
Gangsters kidnap the team's football coach in order to throw the game; Grady and Mickey try to win the game.
The Hardys wish to have a quiet evening in their apartment, but are interrupted when the Laurels pay a visit. Stan and Ollie go out for ice cream, and manage to prevent a shrewish woman from committing suicide on the way back home. The woman is ungrateful and makes threats against the them unless they look after her. They spend a chaotic evening trying to keep her hidden from their wives.
Two young women, Zasu and Thelma, complain that all of their dates take them to Coney Island. The next day a car goes by and they are splashed with mud. The driver stops and offers to buy them some new clothes. They accept the offer and later agree to go on a date -- to Coney Island again. Laurel and Hardy make cameo appearances.
A popular jockey is disbarred from racing after he's accused of throwing a race.
Stan and Ollie are on their way to Atlantic City with their wives, when Ollie gets a phone call from a lodge buddy telling him that a stag party is taking place that night in their honor. Ollie pretends to be sick and sends the wives on ahead, promising that he and Stan will meet them in the morning. The pair dress in their lodge gear, but their wives return having missed their train. With no obvious escape route, Stan and Ollie take to a bed in fear and in response to Stan's plea of "What'll I do?", Ollie replies "Be big!".
This Spanish language film was produced simultaneously with the filming of the two English language Laurel and Hardy shorts Be Big! and Laughing Gravy. The two shorts were edited together into one continuous film. Laurel and Hardy read their lines from cue cards on which Spanish was written phonetically. At the time of early talkies, dubbing was not yet perfected.
After running their car off the road, a society matron insists that the girls spend the evening at her mansion.
Widow Martha and widower Brandon plan to marry; their teenaged children do their slapstick best to interfere. One of "The Boy Friends" series.
Stan lies to his wife about going to a nightclub with Ollie but Mrs. Laurel overhears the plot and outsmarts them both.
Dress designer Joan Wood, who's heavily in debt, has created costumes for a Broadway show that is exported to Argentina. With the money she wants to pay her debts, but there was a mistake: she is receiving the money in Buenos Aires, not in New York. Her friend Wally Wendell, whose grandfather does not approve of his relationship with her, wants him to marry a girl he hasn't seen for some years named Constance Cook, whose grandfather is the owner of a ship traveling to Buenos Aires and Constance
An estranged couple visit their old apartment, which is now occupied by Charley and his wife. Charley's wife, however, misunderstands the purpose of their visit.
This film was simultaneously produced in English and Spanish language versions. The English language version was Below Zero. To film this Spanish language version, Laurel and Hardy read their lines from cue cards on which Spanish was printed phonetically. At the time of early talkies, dubbing was not yet perfected.
Charley and Thelma are millionaires, each trying to elude suitors who are trying to marry them for their money. Charlie gets word that a rich uncle has died, leaving him millions. Attorneys advise him to repair to a resort and avoid gold diggers. Once there, word spreads among the single women, and several try to ensnare him. At first he's gullible, then he cottons on, so when Thelma, a wealthy young woman, mistakes him for a fortune hunter, he dismisses her as well. A manager's error puts Charlie and Thelma in the same suite, and both think the other is prospecting. A dressing gown, radio, bare feet, pistol, keyhole, fountain pen, bedcovers, and a suspicious hotel detective join the mix-up. But wait, was the inheritance a mistake?
The Rascals have a boxing arena that could pack them in if they could find fighters who would actually mix it up. Harry and Farina notice a rivalry between two very large young kids, Joe and Chubby, that would fill the bill if only the two heavyweights would put aside their gentle natures. Farina gets an idea: tell each of the lads that the other will take a dive in the second round. So the fight begins and the stands are filled; but will the combatants actually throw a punch? Ernie has one more trick up his sleeve to get the fists flying and the crowd on its feet. Sweet science indeed.
Stable hands Stan and Ollie are tending a thoroughbred named "Blue Boy." But when they overhear two men talking about a $5000 reward for the return of the stolen "Blue Boy," they miss the part about it being the painting, not the horse. They take the horse to the owner's house to claim the reward. The owner instructs them to put "Blue Boy" on the piano and Ollie explains, "these millionaires are peculiar."
Oliver stands to inherit a large fortune from his rich Uncle Bernal, with the condition that he be happily married. But when Mrs. Hardy walks out just before Uncle Bernal is due for a visit, Stanley is pressed into duty (and into drag) to impersonate Oliver's loving spouse.
Stanley and Oliver are adopted by a runaway goat, whose noise and aroma in turn get the goat of their suspicious landlord.
Little Mother is a 1929 Our Gang short silent comedy film directed by Robert F. McGowan. Produced by Hal Roach and released to theaters by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Little Mother was the 87th Our Gang short to be released. A silent film, it followed Our Gang's first sound film, Small Talk, on the release schedule.
Stan and Ollie wreak havoc at an upper class hotel in their jobs as footman (Hardy) and doorman (Laurel). They partially undress blonde bombshell Jean Harlow (in a brief appearance) and repeatedly escort a stuffy nobleman into an empty elevator shaft.
Sailors Stan and Ollie offer to buy sodas for two women they meet in a park, even though they are short on cash. Luckily Stan wins the jackpot on a slot machine and the boys have enough money to rent a boat to cruise on a lake. They soon tangle with other boaters and everyone ends up in the water.
The story involves Stan and Ollie as two musicians attempting to travel by train to Pottsville (presumably Pennsylvania, a very popular vaudeville performance location). It was only their second sound film, but a silent version was also made for cinemas at the time that were not equipped to show talkies.
Stan and Ollie try to sleep in a room-for-rent. Ollie, suffering from a cold, coughs frequently, while Stan snores. Both of them have trouble falling asleep because of this. They try to solve their problems, but this results in total chaos.
Two girls are invited by one of the girls boy-friend's tight boss for dinner. On the way they stop for a cheap ice-cream. But swinging doors, ventilators, cops and a brat make it nearly impossible to get the ice cream even close to the car where the rest are waiting.
Stan and Ollie arrive as new inmates at a prison after apparently taking part in a hold-up raid, a raid they tell a prison officer they were only watching. The usual mayhem ensues.
Charley falls in love with Mary, but his attack of hay fever alienates her father.
Mrs. Hardy throws Ollie and Stan out of the house. They try to impress two young ladies at a golf course and end up fighting with other golfers. This was the first Hal Roach film to bill Laurel and Hardy as a team.
Members of a municipal band, Stanley and Oliver seem to be always following someone else's lead, rather than that of the temperamental conductor.
Stan complains of a toothache and he and Ollie visit the dentist. Ollie gets his teeth pulled by mistake. Under the influence of laughing gas, they leave and cause much commotion on the road annoying a traffic cop (Edgar Kennedy). This is Kennedy's first appearance in a Laurel and Hardy film.
Papa, Mama, Daughter and Son Gimplewort move into their new house. Two movers are talking to each other about the murder of a saxophone player that took place in the house. They say his ghost still roams the house. Night comes and every noise and creak in the house scares the papa, mama and son (the daughter is out on a date). The Mover gives the daughter a parrot saying "It's a religious parrot – I bought it from a sailor". At any rate, the parrot gets into the act by yelling scaring Papa and Son who have come down looking for the source of the noise. Later Daughter and Remover return from a costume party and sneak into the house. The young man is dressed in a skeleton outfit and the fun continues. There has been film reconstruction in a number of places, particularly the last third of the film. In many cases there is a photograph depicting the scene being described.
Stanley and Oliver, two sailors on shore leave, rent a car and go on a drive with their dates, but soon get involved in a huge traffic jam with dozens of ill-tempered motorists. A minor collision sets off an escalating series of retaliations. This film is recognized as one of Laurel and Hardy's greatest.
Hugh Drummond goes broke living too high and turns to crime in order to pay his bills.
Fight manager (Hardy) takes out an insurance policy on his puny pugilist (Laurel) and then proceeds to try to arrange for an accident so that he can collect. The film is most noted for the final sequence - a wonderfully-choreographed custard pie fight - that utilized an entire day's output of the Los Angeles Pie Company.
After a night of carousing, a rich oil tycoon awakes to find that he was married the night before. He calls in his lawyer (Laurel) to straighten things out.
Fleeing a group of forest rangers, who are rounding up tramps to serve as firefighters, they take refuge in a mansion. The owner has gone on vacation and the servants are away, so Hardy pretends to be the owner and offers to rent the house to an English couple. Hardy gets Laurel to pose as the maid. Unfortunately, the owner returns and tells the would-be renters that he owns the house; Laurel and Hardy then flee again and are caught by the rangers and forced to fight wildfires.
Dimwitted Cuthbert Hope is enlisted in the army, and gets himself and his sergeant in constant trouble.
In this Our Gang film, James Finlayson plays the gang's schoolteacher who takes the kids to Europe after winning a local contest. He takes them on a tour of Naples, Pompeii, Rome, the Vatican, Venice, London, and finally Paris, where problems arise on top of the Eiffel Tower.
Titus Tillsbury is a successful businessman who is visited by a blackmailing old flame. He enlists a friend (Stan) to keep her away from his home and wife. This film was later remade almost scene for scene as the three-reel talkie Chickens Come Home (1931).
Defying her father's wishes, a young woman runs off to a sale at store. She's pursued by a policeman, but wins him over with the help of a friendly millionaire. In the mean time, her father tries to retrieve a compromising letter.
Agnes Ayres was apparently a star of feature film who is top billed in this one-off Hal Roach short. She does well as the woman at the centre of the story, but it's pretty plain that it's actually the comic mind and performing talents of Stan Laurel, who plays her butler, that make this two-reel short shine.
The kids from Our Gang have to attend a wedding, and they bring along their flea collection--which gets loose.
A young man puts on the play "Romeo and Juliet" as a fundraiser, but has to keep a close eye on his dad, who's had several drinks too many, and a pesky cab driver who's determined to collect his fare.
Finlayson plays an intrepid army cameraman on the battlefield in the world war, and Rowe plays his hapless assistant. Cranking away in no man's land, they take foolish chances and must dodge flying shells, falling down and losing their film repeatedly.
A young couple want to marry, but the girl's father doesn't like her beau. To separate them, the father arranges to send the girl on a sea voyage along with a female companion. But the beau, dressed as a woman, manages to fool the father into hiring him as the companion, and they all board the ship together.
The main premise for the comedy is the Jimmy discovers he can convince people he is a tough figure to be reckoned with merely by giving them a business card identifying him as the bouncer of the "Bucket of Blood Cafe."
A shy cowboy is interested in the local school teacher, but must compete with a bully for her attention.
Marie's inebriated husband refuses to go to bed, so she asks Snub, a homeless man she finds sleeping in the park, to assist.
Billy Franey does home brew. "The Janitor" was made during Prohibition, when ANY gags about alcohol (especially the home-brewed variety) would get loud laughs from American cinema audiences.
