Topic: The Live Ghost (1934) - Laurel and Hardy

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      THE LIVE GHOST is one of those good middle of the road Laurel and Hardy shorts.  I really love the atmosphere of this thing, the old seaport town and the ship itself has that really decrepit vibe that only seems to be in late silent and early talking films.  I can picture Lon Chaney, Sr. in this environment - Hell, he would have been good in the Walter Long role, though Walter Long does a good job in this one.  The whole premise of the comedians getting paid off to knock out sailors and shanghai them on a ship only to get shanghaied themselves was done 19 years earlier by Charlie Chaplin in his Essanay short, SHANGHAIED.

      In addition to Stan and Ollie, some good character parts.  Charlie Hall is great as usual with the egg gag, we get Mae Busch, the already mentioned Walter Long, and especially Arthur Housman in one of his great drunk roles, the same year he played sober in PUNCH DRUNKS (the irony Housman plays a rare sober role in a film with the word "drunks" in it escaped me until now).

      Stan and Ollie themselves are in fine form, I appreciate the little bits like tearing the dollar bill in half so it's not spent in one place and Stan's confusion with the command "forward" with the word "forehead."  Also, the set up with Housman falling in the paint and becoming the ghost is very elaborately done - some well written situational comedy.  No real all time great moment, but a perfectly enjoyable Laurel and Hardy short just the same.

[Umbrella Sam]

THE LIVE GHOST is easily the best of Laurel and Hardy’s scare comedies. Admittedly, that’s not really saying much, but I found myself enjoying it a lot more than I thought I would.

I suppose if there were one routine really worth noting, it would be the bits with Stan, Ollie, and the eggs in the mouth. Besides that, a lot of it is concept-driven, but the concept is really good and actually plays out well for once too. The idea of Stan and Ollie thinking they’ve killed Arthur Housman is a very funny idea and Housman’s obliviousness to what’s going on around him makes it even better. I especially like how he doesn’t show much concern over being thrown off the ship and how he got into the situation.

Like ME AND MY PAL, this is more of a comedy to show off the talents of Roach’s supporting players. Walter Long plays a really interesting role, since even though he’s technically the villain, he’s also the one protecting Laurel and Hardy from harm that he doesn’t inflict. Mae Busch and Charlie Hall also have brief roles that they take good advantage of.

I suppose the writing could have been a little better, especially considering all the subplots and deviations that don’t ever go anywhere, but I still really like the main concept and, again, its execution for the most part is really good. This is one that I think is a lot better than its reputation.

9 out of 10

[Dr. Mabuse]

One of Stan and Ollie's underrated gems, with a memorable supporting cast, terrific atmosphere and the expected "black" ending. A definite improvement over "The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case" in terms of pacing and overall laugh content. The two-reel length is perfect.

8/10

[HomokHarcos]

This has better pacing than the Laurel and Hardy Murder Case and Oliver the Eighth, which shows that the two reel format is probably better than three reels. Mae Busch is excellent here, and so is Walter Long. Stan and Ollie think they've killed someone and believe his ghost is haunting them. Again, they seem a lot like Scooby-Doo and Shaggy, more than Abbott and Costello did in their horror comedies.

[NoahYoung]

This is one of their very best talkie shorts, hands down! I really wish they had continued to make shorts for the rest of the years at Roach.

Had anyone noticed how an episode of SEINFELD "stole" the scenes where Arthur Houseman is thrown overboard? The one where Kramer falls asleep with a girl with a "boyfriend", and she thinks he died? She calls up some "friends" to hep her get rid of the body, and they stuff Kramer in a sack and throw him into the Hudson River! The writers had to have seen THE LIVE GHOST.