Topic: Come Clean (1931) - Laurel and Hardy

[metaldams]

http://www.lordheath.com/index.php?p=1_138_Come-Clean
http://www.laurelandhardycentral.com/comeclean.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021755/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x268c5h_stan-laurel-oliver-hardy-1931-v-o-come-clean_shortfilms

Watch COME CLEAN in the link above



      COME CLEAN, along with ANY OLD PORT, are the last two Laurel and Hardy films I saw, never having any history until the big DVD set finally came out.  My history with this one is limited, but overall, it's a film that leaves very little impression on me.  Nothing too terrible, pleasant viewing, but one of those weeks where I'm not very opinionated.  I'll try anyway.

      The first five minutes are the best.  The Hardys trying to evade the Laurels make great viewing.  The look on Gertrude Astor's face when she sees Stan through the peek door is priceless, as is the way the two wives talk to each other as if they're old friends minutes after they talk behind each other's backs how they don't want to be in the same company.  Two faced women.  My favorite bit, though, is the note Stan writes, making his signature below the paper and onto the door itself!

      The ice cream scene with Charlie Hall is also pleasant, Stan failing to order from the flavors given to him as options, only to end up getting chocolate in the end, one of the flavors initially not available.  The Mae Busch stuff just seems unbelievable.  Stan and Ollie get way too out of sorts over her threats they can easily explain away, and the situation just lacks humor to me.  I have to believe the whole suicide angle, and even the similar scenery, was inspired by Charlie Chaplin's CITY LIGHTS.  Oh, and the ending gag with Stan going down the bath tub pipe is too cartoonish for my tastes.

      Just a short I can't get really fired up about either way, sometimes this happens.

7/10

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

This is actually one of my faves.  I agree that there's too much sturm und drang ( how about that, Dr Hugo? ) with Mae Busch, but the elevator door scenes are absolutely classic L&H, they border on ballet, the ice cream parlor scene is wonderful, with a perfect punch line, and Stan going down the drain at the end is one time that one of Laurel's gruesome endings is an actual laugh.  Stan is so ungodly stupid throughout this whole thing that he's lucky he just gets drained, rather than the full-body swirlie he deserves.  Granted that's only three minutes out of eighteen, but there's nothing wrong with the rest of it at all, if you can get past the wallpaper.  Good stuff, and three minutes of 24K L&H gold.  I'll watch this one anytime.

[Paul Pain]

This was such crap I had to skip over parts of it.  What a lousy plot after the ice cream bit.

4/10

[Umbrella Sam]

This one is a bit of a mixed bag for me. There are some moments that are too slow, but overall the short is still decent. The opening comes across as a weaker version of the opening of SHOULD MARRIED MEN GO HOME? and unlike that short, this doesn’t have the shot of Hardy trying to jump over the fence. Gertrude Astor seems like one of the weaker Mrs. Hardy’s; I never really feel like she ever gives much outside of mild frustration. Linda Loredo also makes her only appearance in an English Laurel and Hardy film and does fairly well as Mrs. Laurel, though she’s a bit more limited than usual in what she’s allowed to do.

The ice cream bit is pretty good, helped by the increasing frustration of both Hardy and Charlie Hall. I do have to agree, though, that the whole portion of the story involving Mae Busch was pretty annoying. This could have easily been explained and Hardy even tries to at first, but chickens out for some reason. The whole suicide portion just feels too real; Busch’s more dramatic acting here is way too out of place for what’s supposed to just be a simple two-reel comedy. Also, we never really get an idea of what exactly Mae Busch did to warrant her arrest. Oh, and her screaming gets really annoying.

Still, even after Busch arrives, I do think there are some comedic portions that work. I do like Laurel and Hardy trying to drown out the music and the energy throughout the last few minutes does really come through very well. The ending is alright, though I personally prefer John Lennon’s version in A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (“torpedoed again, eh?” ).

A decent, but flawed efffort.

7 out of 10

[HomokHarcos]

I also wonder why Stan and Ollie couldn't have explained that they saved a woman from suicide, but then a lot of comedies would be different if things were just explained properly. Of course Busch is angry that she was saved, so she decides to make Stan and Ollie's lives miserable, and it turns out there is a reward. I didn't have a problem with the ending, actually one thing I like about Laurel and Hardy or The Three Stooges is that they can have cartoon logic.

[Dr. Mabuse]

The recent UCLA preservation featured in "The Definitive Restorations" has done wonders to this Laurel and Hardy classic — it's like watching a new film. Gertrude Astor, Linda Loredo and "the ever-popular Mae Busch" kick it up a notch. I always liked the bathtub gag and Ollie's great closing line:  "He's gone to the beach." Well worth revisiting.

9/10

[NoahYoung]

Well, I think this is one of their all-time best. I always hesitate to give a rating, and I prefer the "up to 4-star" scale. I would give this one 3 and 1/2 stars out of 4. Or 3 1/2 "hats", which was the symbol used in the McCabe/Bann/Kilgore book.

The only weakness is that it it too similar to CHICKENS COME HOME, which was released earlier the same year. But that would really only be a problem in 1931, since the boys made re-makes and semi-remakes throughout their career.

I love the fast-speed tempo of this film. No stopping for 12 minutes to tie shoelaces or anything. No milking a gag to death. It just keeps moving forward --  this one was well planned out without too much improvising on the set, as the Skretvedt book indicates that the finished film has only minor differences from the script.

One thing I did notice on the extras on the DEFINITIVE  set is that they refer to Mae Busch ("Kate") as a woman of the pavements, which I take to mean a lady of the evening, if you get my drift. Perhaps there is something in the script that was either not filmed or cut out, even though this was pre-code. There is a still with Harry Bernard as a cop, with Mae, and Ollie looking a bit embarrassed. So maybe she was a lady of the evening...however...

According to an online inflation calculator, the $100 reward that Stan gets would be $18,914.74 today! Sounds like a pretty big reward for capturing a lady of the evening. What the heck did she do, then? Murder someone?

During the ice-cream scene, Babe says that the smallest bill he has is a fiver. That's $94.57 today! Not bad for the early days of the depression. And he orders "your best" ice-cream. And he lives in a doorman building overlooking a river in what appears to be a big city. ONE GOOD TURN this is not!

It is sad to note that Linda Loredo ("Mrs. Laurel") died a full month before this film was released, at the age of 24, from complications from appendicitis.

[metaldams]

One thing to be said about Mae Busch and ladies of the evening, a year after COME CLEAN, she appears in DOCTOR X.  She plays what appears to be the head of a brothel there. 



I’ll have to give COME CLEAN another watch.

As for Linda Laredo, yeah, incredibly tragic.  This short was shot May 7 - 14 and she died August 11.  Her initial medical emergency only a month after filming.  Hard not to think about when watching, especially for a 24 year old.

[metaldams]

Want to add those inflation numbers you provided are fascinating.  Old movies really are a great window into that.  I seem to remember some Our Gang short where $4,000 was life changing, retirement level money.

[NoahYoung]

COME CLEAN, along with ANY OLD PORT, are the last two Laurel and Hardy films I saw, never having any history until the big DVD set finally came out. 

Those 2 shorts, along with THEY GO BOOM, for some unknown reason were left out of the restorations done for the syndicated LAUREL & HARDY SHOW in the mid-80s, as well as the RHI package shown on American Movie Classics. All 3 were included, however, on the Nostalgia Merchant VHS tapes. The latter releases left out THE CHIMP.

[NoahYoung]

Want to add those inflation numbers you provided are fascinating.  Old movies really are a great window into that.  I seem to remember some Our Gang short where $4,000 was life changing, retirement level money.

MUSH AND MILK, right?

[metaldams]

Those 2 shorts, along with THEY GO BOOM, for some unknown reason were left out of the restorations done for the syndicated LAUREL & HARDY SHOW in the mid-80s, as well as the RHI package shown on American Movie Classics. All 3 were included, however, on the Nostalgia Merchant VHS tapes. The latter releases left out THE CHIMP.

Probably explains why they’re the last two I saw.  I discovered Laurel and Hardy, BABES IN TOYLAND aside (which I knew as a kid) in the early 2000’s.  At that time, the talkie films were harder to come by, so a friend taped me a bunch of the shorts.  These days, it’s the complete opposite with talking Roach, readily available.  THEY GO BOOM was on one of The Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy DVD’s, so that I had a copy of.

[metaldams]

MUSH AND MILK, right?

That would be the one.  Had to look it up, Our Gang short titles I don’t have memorized like other series.

[NoahYoung]

Probably explains why they’re the last two I saw.  I discovered Laurel and Hardy, BABES IN TOYLAND aside (which I knew as a kid) in the early 2000’s.  At that time, the talkie films were harder to come by, so a friend taped me a bunch of the shorts.  These days, it’s the complete opposite with talking Roach, readily available.  THEY GO BOOM was on one of The Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy DVD’s, so that I had a copy of.

I first saw THEY GO BOOM on a Nostalgia Merchant tape called something like Hal Roach Comedy Classics with Charley Chase's MIDSUMMER MUSH and OUR GANG FOLLIES OF 1938. They had left THEY GO BOOM off their regular series of L&H shorts.

That would be the one.  Had to look it up, Our Gang short titles I don’t have memorized like other series.

I know all the Our Gang Talkie titles, and all L&H by heart. I'm ashamed to admit on a 3 Stooges forum that I need to look up Stooge titles sometimes.
 

[HomokHarcos]

Maybe we should go through Our Gang sometime, although the MGMs might be a chore.

[NoahYoung]

I've only seen a handful of the M-G-M produced shorts. I've never seen one that can hold a candle to a Roach produced one.

Just as an aside, I've seen Robert Blake talk about being in "The Little Rascals", which is false. Only the Roach talkies were re-christened "The Little Rascals" for TV. I've heard that a few silents were part of the syndication package at some point, but that pre-dates me. I did, however, see episodes of "The Mischief Makers" in the late 70s and early 80s on TV, which were rechristened and re-edited Our Gang silents. I have a print or 2 of the silents from Niles Films with "Those Loveable Scalawags" titles, which were also made for TV viewing.

It would be great to go through all 80 talkie shorts. Some have been reviewed already. I've looked on youtube for M-G-Ms, but could not find anything other than some brief clips. I know that at one point they were available on DVD -- they may still be on a MOD basis. No big loss not being able to see them.

I believe THE ABBOTT AND COSTELLO SHOW is in the queue (at least the first season) before we can get to Our Gang.
 

And forget GENERAL SPANKY -- Probably the worst movie that I've ever seen that I thought would be good.

[metaldams]

There’s no way I can do all 80 plus Roach films in a row of Our Gang.  I’ve already done one short and will do others randomly at some point.  I like parts of the series, but not the whole thing where I can dedicate that much time.

I’m starting the A&C Show episodes in June.  It will be bi-weekly, giving me a chance to do other things in between to keep things fresh.

[NoahYoung]

There’s no way I can do all 80 plus Roach films in a row of Our Gang.  I’ve already done one short and will do others randomly at some point.  I like parts of the series, but not the whole thing where I can dedicate that much time.

I’m starting the A&C Show episodes in June.  It will be bi-weekly, giving me a chance to do other things in between to keep things fresh.

Yea, 80 is a lot. I can do them from memory except for a few from the '29-'30 season. I'm not a fan of the first talkies for Our Gang.

The A&C SHOW will be fun. I may watch all of season one again by June anyway. Plus I have the notes I took years ago.

[metaldams]

Rewatched this and enjoyed it more than my initial review.  Linda Laredo had quite the vocal chops with her, “Stanley!”  yells.  Also, that story about the traveling salesman and the farmer Stan told, where they conveniently leave out the farmer’s daughter in the on screen dialogue, was also done to similar effect in PARDON MY SARONG from Abbott and Costello.

[NoahYoung]

Rewatched this and enjoyed it more than my initial review.  Linda Laredo had quite the vocal chops with her, “Stanley!”  yells.  Also, that story about the traveling salesman and the farmer Stan told, where they conveniently leave out the farmer’s daughter in the on screen dialogue, was also done to similar effect in PARDON MY SARONG from Abbott and Costello.

All the salesman wanted was a glass of milk! (Shower of coconuts falls on Lou's head.)

In the first take of that scene in COME CLEAN, Stan said, "And the agent asked, 'What's the name of your act?". He said, 'The Aristocrats.'"
 

[Tony Bensley]

I also wonder why Stan and Ollie couldn't have explained that they saved a woman from suicide, but then a lot of comedies would be different if things were just explained properly. Of course Busch is angry that she was saved, so she decides to make Stan and Ollie's lives miserable, and it turns out there is a reward. I didn't have a problem with the ending, actually one thing I like about Laurel and Hardy or The Three Stooges is that they can have cartoon logic.

That so much of Laurel & Hardy's comedy was grounded in things that could really happen, a bit of cartoon logic here and there enhanced their comedy,

CHEERS! 

[Tony Bensley]

Edit: Ignore