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"

Them Thar Hills/Tit For Tat Year: 1934/1935 Directed by: Charles Rogers Duration: 20m/19m DVD Availability: Try sendit.com (region 2 only) Viewpoint: "Just what the Doctor ordered!" I wouldn't normally combine a review of two pictures, but while Laurel and Hardy play nominally the same characters in each of their films, this is the only time they made something as a specific sequel. They may change wives and marital status from film to film (even historical setting), but in Tit For Tat they're the same men who clashed with Charlie Hall and Mae Busch as his wife. ("Remember that fella who we met in the trailer? Remember his wife came in, and she asked for a drink of water?") Both films are really just loosely plotted excuses for Laurel and Hardy's exquisite blend of verbal wordplay and random violence, with Them Thar Hills scoring heavily in both respects. Not only does it make good use of Stan's linguistic misunderstandings, but the escalating levels of sadistic violence also compel. Particular stand out is Ollie trying to cool his burning backside in an alcohol-filled well - a rewarding final pay-off that its follow-up lacked. The realisation that Laurel and Hardy blind drunk is funnier than anything (elevating the otherwise average Blotto) is also made good use of. In contrast, Tit For Tat is a mild disappointment, being a rather one-dimensional series of scraps that lack the former's mildly surrealistic edge. Yet while stating Stan has had a nervous breakdown a day before the events of the short is dubious taste, in terms of sets this is one of their most ambitious. Stan and Ollie run an electrical store which is shoplifted to its bare foundations during the course of the film, while Hall proves to be one of their finest adversaries. Not as full on hilarious as Them Thar Hills, but both are solidly made and ideal to make you laugh on a rainy afternoon.