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 Laurel-Hardy Murder Case Year: 1930 Directed by: James Parrott Duration: 29m DVD Availability: Try sendit.com (region 2 only) Viewpoint: "Three million dollars. Is that as much as a thousand?" "Why man alive, it's twice as much!" The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case recently made the news when in July 2004 a 40 minute print of Spuk um Mitternacht was discovered. The German version of the film (meaning “Ghost At Midnight”) was missing 9 minutes of material, but was still a great find, joining three minutes of footage from Hinter Schloss und Riegel, the German Pardon Us. Still missing is the French version, Feu mon oncle, though the Spanish version, which combines material from Berth Marks, Noche de duendes (Night of Goblins), exists. The only film to reference their names in the title, it also featured the debut of the “another nice mess” catchphrase and is perhaps the only time (?) that Stan calls Ollie “Oliver”. So, all these facts and figures, as well as the discovery of new material (as yet unseen by this reviewer) and… it’s really not very good, is it? Probably the weakest Hal Roach short, the somewhat ineptly named Laurel-Hardy Murder Case really is a laugh-free zone, with scarcely a chuckle generated. As far as I’m concerned, Oliver Hardy is one of the finest actors Hollywood ever produced, and I mean that in all honesty. So it’s something of a shame that not only does he give a pantomimic, overtly loud performance here (his worst in a Hal Roach movie along with Swiss Miss?) and also that he’s so physically imposing on Stan. While their knockabout antics are funny, here it’s all Ollie as he pushes, prods, pokes and generally beats up on Stan over the whole of the overlong runtime. Stan, who had to do endure the death of a premature son in the month of production, takes it all in his stride with an understandably downbeat, resigned performance. Only in the end when he slaps Ollie’s fingers does he react back, while the inappropriate climax sees both of them slugging a man with a knife. The humour that is present, apart one or two small bits of business between the two leads, is frequently childish and relies upon them having to act “scared” of imaginary ghosts. The twist ending also feels weak and something of a cop out. The film gets a pass due to the unhappy situation that it was developed under, and also because when it was remade three years later as Oliver The Eighth it was a personal favourite.