Silent. Stan and Ollie show up to finish the job of building a house. They don't do it.The roughly slapped together structure has innumerable props that the two use in comic incidents, often repeated. Ollie, for instance, must carry a mouthful of nails and is bumped on the head or something so that he swallows them (three times).They're visited by a cop, an almost unrecognizably young Edgar Kennedy, who warns them to keep it quiet because of the nearby hospital. Kennedy leans against a pile of boards stacked against the wall. The boards fall down with a clatter, accompanied by Kennedy.Actually, it's not as slow as some of their "working man" efforts. The pace is brisk. And perhaps the neatest scene has the two bumblers playing toss and catch with a bundle of money while the owner of the house tries to intercept it.It's probably one of their better shorts.

Finishing Touch, The (1928) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Laurel and Hardy play finishers who are offered an extra $500 if they can finish a house in one day. The boys set out to make the extra money but soon a nurse (Dorothy Coburn) and a cop (Edgar Kennedy) start getting in their way. This silent short is a rather mixed bag as it features a lot of funny moments but the comedy isn't really ever hysterical but instead just mild laughs. The majority of the film goes for slapstick comedy, which includes Hardy stepping on nails, Laurel tripping over boards and that type of stuff. The cop of course plays the rival to the boys who keeps getting caught up in their madness and taking most of the abuse. Kennedy is quite good in his role but it's actually Coburn who steals the film when she decides to beat up the boys because of how much noise they're making.

Sunday July 16, 12:30pm The Castro, San Francisco"If you must make noise – make it quietly."Stan and Ollie play bumbling carpenters attempting to finish a house across the street from a hospital. Edgar Kennedy plays the cop who keeps a close eye on their progress, and inevitable demolition of the house. In one shot, he stands and watches Stan walk past carrying the end of a board on his shoulder. As the board passes by for what seems like a very long time, Kennedy is surprised to see that Stan is also shouldering the other end! He is repeatedly hit over the head, doused in a bucket of glue, then covered with roofing shingles and later flung into a trough of wet plaster for his troubles. Ollie accidentally swallows the handful of nails he puts in his mouth, three times! The two have some fun with an irate nurse. Stan rips a sheet of sandpaper in half when she bends over, so of course she thinks … The finale includes a rock throwing fight with their boss and their large truck with faulty breaks rolling into and completely destroying the house.

In 'The Finishing Touch', directed by a master of slapstick (Clyde Bruckman) and supervised by a pillar of American comedy (Leo McCarey), Laurel and Hardy have fully developed their film personalities. The plot, that reminds Keaton's `One Week' and The Three Stooges `The sitter-downers', is merely an excuse for bringing up the best of the duo's explosive chemistry. The power of their humor relies not in the impact or unawareness of a gag, but in a skillful preparation of the comic situation. Laurel and Hardy's best trick is the anticipation of an effect and the audience's involvement in its prediction. Repetition is fundamental and the pace and timing of the build-up a hard to match one.