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"

The Chimp Year: 1932 Directed by: James Parrott Duration: 24m DVD Availability: Try sendit.com (region 2 only) Viewpoint: "The night was dark - they usually are -" The title quote is from a caption, one of many weak and obvious jokes making up this short. Possibly the dumbest Laurel and Hardy movie of all time, this one never fails to sell itself to the lowest common denominator. I have nothing against low brow humour, far from it, but there's an odd mixture of self-amusement and pathetic striving that means this one annoys more than amuses. And with the first seven minutes seeing Stan and Ollie as help in a circus, then it removes their comic core. No longer is their accident-prone nature incongruous, instead the audience thinks it's all part of the act, and they become literal clowns. Suddenly they're no longer children in men's bodies, but adults mildly incompetent at their jobs. Having won lots from the dissolved circus (which they destroyed), Stan finds himself with a flea circus (puerile, but it does make you itch) and Ollie has a gorilla that he refers to as a chimp. Actually, it's a human in a costume, so that the "chimp" can pull faces, wink at Stan, use hand gestures and dance in a tutu. All of which had me in helpless hysterics when I was five years old. But I'm not five years old anymore, and it all seems so infantile somehow. Maybe it tries too hard, but it's all just so… stupid. Did I even mention the lion that chases Hardy around while he's wearing a dress? The chimp sharing a bed or firing a revolver? No artistry, no subtext, no content for the adult audience. It's just a no-brain knockabout for the kiddies.