JB:
I have complained about the end of this film ever since the first time
I saw it, so let's get it out of the way: the end of this film
stinks. Instead of a great runaway car sequence like that in Hog Wild,
we get some of the phoniest back projections I have ever seen in a movie.
I don't care what other theories people may have that this is actually
a satire on movie-making - it just stinks.
There, I've said it. As for the rest of
the film... it's Laurel and Hardy at their finest. I've come to
realize that the end of the film does not overwhelm the rest of it,
but, in fact, the opposite is true: the first seventeen minutes of County Hospital is so good,
I should just forget about the ending and remember all the L&H
byplay, and the scenes where Stan does nothing but eat an egg and still
make me laugh, Billy Gilbert going out the window, and all the other
little moments that add up to an imperfect gem, a true diamond in the
rough. Ranks with their second tier best along with Chickens Come Home and others, and would have been a classic if they had done the runaway car scene correctly.
JL: I
can only echo what John B. says about the ending of this otherwise
great film. Ollie's over-the-top reactions are good for some mild
laughs, but to contend the scene is a "satire on movie-making" seems
like ad-hoc rationalization. In other words, you can't enjoy the
scene without apologizing for it first. We laugh at the scene
rather that with it, and I doubt this was the intention.
But it's wonderful stuff up to that
point. The simple premise of Stan visiting Ollie in the hospital
is loaded with comic potential, and the film does not disappoint in
this regard. All that poor Ollie needs to recover from his broken
leg is some quiet time in bed, but this becomes an unattainable goal
once Stan shows up. Stan's innocent bungling causes Ollie to
suffer pain that is probably more excruciating than when he broke his
leg in the first place. It's a great "cringe while you laugh"
film.
Stan Laurel once said, "What's funny?
How do I know? Can you analyze it? Can anybody? All I
know is how to make people laugh." The egg-eating scene that John
B. mentions is a good example of Stan's theory (or non-theory, if you
will) of comedy. It is two minutes of a man doing nothing but
eating a hard-boiled egg. No embellishment, no broad takes, no
extraneous business outside of shaking a bit of salt and picking a few
crumbs. He just sits there and eats the egg with a blank
unawareness of the outside world. And it's utterly
hilarious. As Stan himself stated, it can't be analyzed.
All we can do is enjoy the genius of a man with an uncanny instinct for
making people laugh.
Copyright © 2012 John Larrabee, John V. Brennan