Topic: They Go Boom! (1929) - Laurel and Hardy

[metaldams]

http://www.lordheath.com/index.php?p=1_150_They-Go-Boom
http://www.laurelandhardycentral.com/theyboom.html
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0020489/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x24vbct_they-go-boom-b-w-1929-laurel-hardy_shortfilms

Watch THEY GO BOOM! in the link above



      Not one of the more known or critically acclaimed Laurel and Hardy shorts.  Part of the reason is because the soundtrack was missing for a long time and has only been available the past few decades.  Something tells me the baby boomers didn't see this one on TV as much as the others.  As for me?  An absolute favorite of mine.  I have this thing for silent and early talkie comedies that take place in these sad looking places yet somehow still manage to be funny.  Chaplin started it with several films, and this is one of two Laurel and Hardy films I throw in this category, the other gets name checked in the laurelandhardycentral.com link above.  I suppose the beginning of CASH AND CARRY is another great example, come to think of it.  Anyway, here Stan and Ollie live in this tiny two room little tenement rental, about as dingy of a place as you can imagine.  On top of it, poor Oliver has a terrible cold that Stan fails with, time and time again, to heal.  Through such sadness, they create laughter.

      Minus the dingy setting, consider this Laurel and Hardy's GOOF ON THE ROOF in the sense that it contains very limited setting yet a lot of slapstick comedy that is completely engaging.  Being 1929, there's no TV to set up, but like the Stooge short, we have one main room and a little kitchen where all the action takes place.  There really isn't much to say since it's such a simple premise, so I'll just name some favorite parts.

      In the kitchen, there's this one part where Stan gets his socks covered in fly paper, causing this sticky mess.  His solution is to turn the socks inside out and then put them on!  The patented Stan smile that he gives the audience like he just did something intelligent never fails to make me laugh.  I love Ollie's talking like he has the sniffles, nice acting job.  I love the "Smile All the While" sign that hangs above their bed and the way Stan nails it in, only to catch a water pipe in the wall behind it.  Eventually, the pipe bursts, the picture falls on Ollie's head, and Ollie gets all wet in the process.  Anytime Charlie Hall appears is great.  The Three Stooges always have men bigger than them as their superiors, but there is some perverse humor I get watching a diminutive Charlie Hall acting assertive towards the relatively larger Stan and Ollie.  The greatest part of this short is the ending, the first truly great sight gag in a talkie Laurel and Hardy film.  The air mattress blowing up and the aftermath it leaves gives me a belly laugh only rivaled by the kitchen explosion in BLOCK-HEADS.

      "Why don't you do something to help me?"  This is a line Ollie says to Stan several times over the years.  Stan tries to help Ollie time and time again here, maybe Ollie should have learned his lesson.  For the sake of comedy, it's a good thing he didn't.

10/10

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Whoever wrote dialog for these early shorts must have taken the week off for this one.  There's not a whit of decent verbal humor the whole way through.  The physical stuff is O K, but they needed some jokes.  This reminds me of the Stooges' Pop Goes The Easel: it looks like they're just ad-libbing the dialog, and that never works for me.
     And they have apparently not discovered the Cuckoo theme yet - the opening theme is called "Running Wild".

[metaldams]

Whoever wrote dialog for these early shorts must have taken the week off for this one.  There's not a whit of decent verbal humor the whole way through.  The physical stuff is O K, but they needed some jokes.  This reminds me of the Stooges' Pop Goes The Easel: it looks like they're just ad-libbing the dialog, and that never works for me.
     And they have apparently not discovered the Cuckoo theme yet - the opening theme is called "Running Wild".

      To each their own, but I never felt this short needed great dialogue.  The slapstick, the reactions, the situation, and that brilliant ending sight gag speak well enough for me.

[Paul Pain]

This was a fantastic way to spend 20 minutes.  I love the way Ollie is just acting like an overgrown manchild in spite of Stan's best efforts to help him (he's a simpleton, so what can you expect?  I like that Ollie acted like he was sick without the stereotypical sound effects that permeate modern TV.  I enjoy these ancient little gems.

Was that mustard in the tub?

[Big Chief Apumtagribonitz]

Mustard was often used as a liniment in the old days of herbal remedies, hence Mr. Flint needing a mustard plaster for his lumbago.  There were actual things called mustard plasters, used exactly as shown.  May still be, for all I know.  Horseradish, not so much.

[Umbrella Sam]

This was a wonderful short. Things just continue going wrong in bigger proportions, ending in a very funny sight gag. Besides this sight gag, though, highlights for me included the sign falling and Charlie Hall’s performance. Hall is the only other major character in this, so a lot of the comedy relies on Laurel and Hardy themselves and as a result this short is a great showcase for their dynamic as a duo. I also think that they show off Hardy’s reactions very well in this. I particularly like his reaction when Laurel gets the plaster off, and he’s quick to pull down the shades as a result. Not much more to add otherwise. It’s a hilarious short and definitely worth checking out.

10 out of 10

[Dr. Mabuse]

Largely confined to a single set, "They Go Boom!" feels less claustrophobic than "Berth Marks." Only Stan and Ollie can get so much comic mileage out of a simple premise. The climactic sight gag with the air mattress is a definite highlight. One of the few Laurel and Hardy shorts that unfold in real time.

7.5/10

[metaldams]

I just watched this one again a few months back and it still stands as one of their funniest shorts.  Sometimes all two great comics need is a small space and a simple premise - here’s a good example.

[HomokHarcos]

Like Unaccustomed As We Are, this is confined to a very small area. While that short can be described more as a situational comedy with an emphasis on verbal humor, They Go Boom! primarily relies on slapstick. That is why I prefer this one. Stan and Ollie are like little kids, so of course they end up messing up the apartment. Poor Charlie Hall, he gets into a lot of tough situations because of Stan and Ollie, but he's not exactly a nice person in these films. The ending was pretty cool, what I like about Laurel and Hardy is that they are sometimes like a real-life cartoon.