THEY GO BOOM
Written and filmed June-July, 1929. Released by MGM, September, 1929. Produced by Hal Roach. Directed by James Parrott. Two reels.Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charlie Hall, Sam Lufkin.
STORY: Ollie has a bad cold, made worse by Stan's efforts to care for him.
JL: Their most under-rated early talkie, perhaps because it's not widely seen. A simple situation, a crummy apartment, loads o' laffs. If the early talkies were cumbersome, then this one takes the right approach. Rather than being a situation comedy like Unaccustomed As We Are, it's just a string of simple, close-up sight gags which all work as long as the camera's pointed in the general direction.
JB: This film has some of the sad atmosphere found in the later Below Zero and the music-barren soundtrack merely emphasises those feelings,
but, like Below Zero, the atmosphere adds poignancy to an otherwise average short.
It is a claustrophobic film, taking place in
one small room with a few cutaways to the kitchen, but this is not a
drawback. It feels like it is going to be a slow-moving, lifeless
short, but it keeps surprising. Just when you think it is getting
a bit too slow, they pull of a great sight gag like Stan tripping with
the bucket of water, soaking Ollie. It's just Stan, Ollie, a
landlord, a bed, a kitchen and two windows, and yet, somehow, that's
enough to keep coming up with fun gags and situations.
They Go Boom proves that even at 3 in the morning, nothing goes right in Mr. Hardy's world.
Copyright © 2012 John Larrabee, John V. Brennan
