The boys think their days of fishing to feed themselves have come to an end, when Stan's rich uncle Ebenezer dies leaving a large estate. But they soon learn that Ebenezer was murdered and all the relatives, including Stan, are suspects.
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The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case is an unusual one as it is more spooky than comedy. I watched it with my nephew when he was a toddler and he really got spooked out by the butler.Laurel and Hardy go to the home on a dark rainy night of Stan's late relative, for the reading of his will. However the police are there as they believe Ebenezer Laurel was murdered.As the evening wears on things go bump in the night and when the butler announces that you are wanted on the phone, do not answer.It is a shame that pacing issues let this down a bit and the slapstick is not quiet as funny.
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. Stan and Ollie are sleeping on the docks, when they read a newspaper article, saying that all heirs of Ebeneezer Laurel need to attend the will reading at Laurel Masion, concerning a $3,000,000 estate. All other Laurel relatives have been told by the Chief of Detectives (Fred Kelsey) that Ebeneezer Laurel did not die naturally, he was murdered, and he is sure that one of the relatives is responsible, so he orders they all stay in the mansion until one of them cracks. Soon enough, Stan and Ollie show up, and are taken to a bedroom by the sneaky Butler (Frank Austin), they are taken to the room where Ebeneezer was murdered, and everything is covered with white sheets, so you can expect a lot of scares as they keep mistaking the room as being haunted. Soon enough, you realise the Butler and Housekeeper (Dell Henderson, in drag) are the ones that killed Ebeneezer, and one by one, all the other Laurel's meet their fate with a trap door activated by lifting a study desk phone. In the end, when it looks like Ollie and Stan are about to meet their fate, it fates out to them squabbling on the dock, and falling over it into the water, so it was all a dream. Also starring Tiny Sandford as Policeman and Stanley Blystone as Detective. Filled with good slapstick and all classic comedy you want from a black and white film, at just over an hour, it is an enjoyable film. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Worth watching!
***SPOILERS FOR EMILY***This is one of Laurel & Hardy's weaker short film entries from Hal Roach Studios. It suffers from a repetitive script and an ending that feels so tacked-on that I can't help but wonder if the crew realized they were filming a mess with no good resolution.The byplay between Stan and Oliver is the bright spot, though some of the gags in the bedroom scene are a little too hokey to get much of a laugh - that has to be the fakiest fake bat I've EVER seen in a movie.The opening scene, with the Boys fishing off the pier, contains most of the movie's funniest material. You can always find something good about even the weakest Laurel & Hardy film.
This is another L & H short that deviates in some way from the general pattern of them; but this time, the central tennet is drastically different: the boys are implicated in a frankly absurd murder case. Dell Henderson's wonderfully creaking, slow turn, is a comic parody of horror movie 'housekeepers' and butlers before Universal horror really took off. I like the way an authority figure is sent up (as often in L & H); this time a bumbling, melodramatic detective, the actor hamming it up for all it was worth. There's barely a bone in this film's skeleton that isn't light and giddily brittle; only the early scene of Ollie musing on his friendship with Stan, the two of them sitting by the waterside, really seems like a typically L & H scene. And beautifully played and written it is too. It has that comic pathos that is entirely relinquished by the film from then on. The remainder of this picture spirals off into the most obvious, overplayed silliness; but I loved it. Laurel and Hardy in a creaking, almost chuckling set, standing in for a haunted house; absurd, devilish do propagated by a leering, comatose housekeeper; predictable gags; a bat or two. Just bring it all to mind, and smile... give it a viewing some day, and I'm sure you'll be amused. "The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case" is a wonderfully enjoyable short; and a refreshing variant within their very consistent, fine work during this pre-feature length era.Rating:- ****/*****
