Helpmates

Moviecut—Helpmates

source: Helpmates

This is a black-and-white, 20-minute short movie from over 80 years ago and it stars early movie legends Laurel & Hardy (both in their early 40s here). I watched Academy Award winner "The Music Box" yesterday, their most famous probably, and I was pretty disappointed. But not so by this one. It starts pretty great already with Hardy's mirror talk and stays strong when Laurel enters the picture. Hardy had a big party and the house is a mess. Unlucky for him that his wife comes home soon, so it's high time to get everything back in order again. He decides to invite his pal Laurel and the two start tidying up. Of course, if you know them, you will not be surprised at all that everything just becomes a bigger mess and, in the end, the entire house burns down. Looks like there is one thing worse than tidying up with Laurel and that is letting him tidy up on his own. I quite enjoyed this short movie. The first half was certainly better than the second in my opinion, but it's never weak or boring. I even felt a bit sorry for Hardy in the end. He literally lost everything. But he took it like a man. The makers behind this are Parrott, Walker and Roach and this trio worked on many occasions with our two heroes. In my opinion, this may be their best effort. I guess the more they talk, the more I like it and there are quite a few dialogs in here. The jokes are funny and same goes for the physical component of this film. The slapstick and the situations in which Ollie is in so much trouble again are hilarious most of the time. A really good early short film. Recommended.

"Hydra phosfates!" That's what Stan Laurel claims he got from being bitten by a dig, his reason for not coming over for Oliver's wild party. And now the sour pussed Mrs. Hardy is coming home, which causes Oliver to beg Stan to come over and help him clean up, his first mistake. He'll be lucky if the house is still standing, let alone clean, when wifey dear makes it in. Practically every married couple can relate to this scenario and I recall my mother always giving the warning call to my father when she'd come home, especially if she was traveling with us kids. Everything that can go wrong does go wrong, and I can just hear that female voice from the "Gilligan's Island" laugh track saying "uh oh!" just as Oliver's head prepares to go through a drawer or be conked on the head by a big tin of flower. This is Laurel and Hardy perfection, a total 10 out of 10.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are the most famous comedy duo in history, and deservedly so, so I am happy to see any of their films. Ollie's house is a mess after a drunken party, and he gets a telegram saying his wife (Blanche Payson) will be home at noon, so he calls Stan (getting the phone mistaken for an alarm clock, and then swapping for a statue), who was bitten by a dog, went to hospital and was told by the doctor he might have "hydrophosphates" (hydrophobia), to help clean up. Stan washes the dirty dishes, which he drops, and Ollie manages to use butter as soap, opening the door gets covered in smoke from the breaking pipe, and flour from the near cupboard. After Ollie has changed his clothes, Stan is trying to unblock the sink to tip away the washing up water, but instead throws the water on, and then out the window, on Ollie (twice), and in anger he throws a plant through the house, hitting a neighbour with a hose pipe, which goes through the house (obviously the water going on Ollie). After causing an explosion with the oven gas (which Ollie was using to dry his wet clothes), Ollie changes into his admiral's uniform, and returns home from seeing the wife with a black eye, a house destroyed by Stan lighting gasoline in the fireplace, and getting rained on. Filled with good slapstick and all classic comedy you want from a black and white film, it is an enjoyable film. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Worth watching!

Laurel and Hardy showed their greatness in classic shorts such as this. Slapstick with an economy of storytelling. While the cat's away the mouse comes out to play and this big mouse, Oliver has thrown a party which has left his house in a mess and him with a hangover. Trouble looms as his wife is arriving home from a trip earlier than expected. Oliver Invites Stan to help him clear up which leads to one disaster to another. Oliver would be lucky if his house is standing upright. Both are at their bumbling best.

This is classic Laurel and Hardy. The origin of Dumb and Dumber and an inspiration for generations of comedians and comedy writers, Laurel and Hardy were the masters of complicating easy tasks beyond the point of minor disaster. Often referred to as the fiddle and the bow, this comedy team started in the silent era with slapstick humor. Many of the comedies revolve around the destruction of cars, for which they found many ways to destroy. Upon the coming of the sound era, many silent stars lost work because of voice flaws (see Singin' In The Rain for a great example) or because they could only do visual slapstick comedy. Laurel and Hardy were able to transcend the silent era of slapstick and successfully incorporate witty dialogue in amongst their visual humor. This two realer is classic as the Boys try and clean up after Ollie's wild party before his wife comes home. The ending of this short comedy has the funniest line of all time. As usual, Laurel and Hardy are their bumbling destructive selves, which of course leads to one laugh right on top of another. As Ollie says in the beginning while looking at himself in the mirror, "I have two words to describe you. Impossible."

Helpmates (1932) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Mrs. Hardy is out of town so Hardy throws a big party. When the wife plans on returning home early Hardy must get Laurel to help him clean the house. Another wonderful short has non-stop laughs from start to finish. There really isn't one skit that sticks out but instead the laughs just build up. Our Wife (1931) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Hardy and his fiancé have to run off to get married so they get Laurel for help, which of course leads to disaster. There are plenty of wonderful jokes and gags here including the small limousine and the best one when Hardy falls into a cake and brings a lot more with him. Me and My Pal (1933) *** (out of 4) Hardy is about to be married but Laurel gives him a jigsaw puzzle for a wedding gift. The two start working on it and forget all about the wedding. This is more amusing than funny, although the final riot does get plenty of laughs.

'm slightly puzzled by the high regard HELPMATES is held in . Some people have described it as Stan and Ollie's masterpiece while just about everyone class it as being well above average . BBc 2 showed it immediately after THE CHIMP which had me laughing out loud but this one merely amused me . I guess like so much in life a Laurel and Hardy film is subject to personal opinion The film starts with Ollie waking up with a hangover finding his house in a mess after a wild party something his wife will literally kill him for so he phones up Stan asking him to come on over and help clear up the mess . It's at this point logic disappears out of the window . If you needed a hand to do something would Stan Laurel be the first name to come to mind ? Likewise there's little evidence Stan attended the party , if a mate asked you to help clear up a mess the day after a party that you weren't invited you what would your response be ? Exactly . The humour then centres around pratfalls and Stan getting bullied by Ollie which comes across as rather unpleasant , of course Ollie might regret his authoritarianism by the end which he does but with the exception of Stan saluting Ollie's change of clothes there wasn't much here that made me laugh

The boys have been partying away while the cat's away. Oliver's house is an absolute mess. Of course, his wife calls and is arriving early from her trip. That's all it takes to set Stan and Ollie in motion, allowing them to become weapons of mass destruction. Ollie, knowing nothing about the appliances in his own house, causes an explosion. Everything the two of them touch is a disaster. I won't go into specifics but we all know that in reality, there would be no recovering from this. Of course, this is like a modern cartoon where the characters land on their feet and are able to goof up again. At one point, Ollie must put on his lodge uniform because his clothes have been burned and he must pick up Mrs. Hardy, who is quite formidable. That leaves Stanley to fix things up before they arrive home. Well, I won't spoil it. If they did a funnier film, I don't know what it would be.