Silent Films: pre-team 1921-1927 Laurel and Hardy Silents 1927 Laurel and Hardy Silents 1928 Laurel and Hardy Silents 1929 Laurel and Hardy sound films (alphabetical order): A-Haunting We Will Go Air Raid Wardens Another Fine Mess Any Old Port! Atoll K (aka Utopia) Babes In Toyland Beau Hunks Be Big! Below Zero Berth Marks The Big Noise Block-Heads Blotto The Bohemian Girl Bonnie Scotland Brats The Bullfighters Busy Bodies Chickens Come Home - The Chimp A Chump At Oxford Come Clean County Hospital The Dancing Masters The Devil's Brother aka Fra Diavolo Dirty Work The Fixer Uppers The Flying Deuces Fra Diavolo aka The Devil's Brother Going Bye-Bye! Great Guns Helpmates Hog Wild The Hoose-Gow Jitterbugs Laughing Gravy The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case The Live Ghost Me And My Pal Men O'War The Midnight Patrol The Music Box Night Owls Nothing But Trouble Oliver The Eighth One Good Turn Our Relations Our Wife Pack Up Your Troubles Pardon Us Perfect Day Saps At Sea Scram! Sons of the Desert Swiss Miss Their First Mistake Them Thar Hills They Go Boom! Thicker Than Water Tit For Tat Towed In A Hole Twice Two Unaccustomed As We Are Utopia (aka Atoll K) Way Out West Specials: Cameos Cartoons For Love Or Mummy Laurel and Hardy Memories "Stan"

Another Fine Mess Year: 1930 Directed by: James Parrott Duration: 27m DVD Availability: Try amazon (region 1)/sendit.com (region 2) Viewpoint: "Why, that's practically giving it away, Colonel." "Well, I picked it up for practically nothing myself." Not particularly funny Laurel and Hardy short, though it does have its moments. Seeing a curtain rail getting the better of the pair is amusing, and Stan headbutting a wall proves that the duo’s timing was far greater than most of the plots. The plot in question revolves around Stan and Ollie pretending to be a rich houseowner and his butler. This isn’t as humorous as it might sound due to the leads not affecting a greatly different characteristics (as Stan would in A Chump at Oxford... a film which "borrowed" from the Agnes segment) than their previously established personas. Stan’s recreation as "Agnes" doesn’t even allow him to take on a different accent. As a note of trivia, all of the shorts on this site (and Pardon us) are such a collaborative work that listing a "writer" is impossible. It's often debated as to how much input Hal Roach had beyond the initial ideas, and how much Leo McCarey did. Not only that, but Stan would often be involved in writing, direction and even editing, all without credit. Yet it should be noted that Another Fine Mess and its forebear, Duck Soup (1927) were based on an original sketch by Stan's dad, Arthur Jefferson. He wasn't overly impressed with what his son did to "his" work. James Finlayson is wasted in a minor role and weirdly; the title again perpetuates the myth of Ollie’s catchphrase, though here again he says "another nice mess" not the "fine" of the film’s name. However, seeing the picture open with two twin girls dressed as bellboys, cringingly reading out the credits in stereo should give warning to what is one of the more glib, less inspired L & H vehicles. The final pay-off just goes too far out to be "zany" and just ends up as somewhat silly and unreliant on any form of logic to be funny. A padded remake of their third silent, Duck Soup, it takes one of their better earlier movies (admittedly, referencing Stan's earlier non-Stan character of "Hives" is witty for fans) and makes it into something of a going-through-the-motions endeavour. Disappointing.