JL:
Maybe not one of their very best silents, but I love this film. Again,
Laurel and Hardy defy convention and prove that you can indeed steal
scenes from an animal (though the horse does have some cherce moments).
The gags may stem from their characters less so than usual (though the
situation certainly does), but they're funny enough so as not to
matter. The sight of (in descending order) horse, piano,
Ollie
(hoisting both on his back), and piano leg under Ollie's chin has to be
one of the classic images in all of Laurel and Hardydom.
JB:
We
often think of Stan and Ollie as plain dumb, but what really made them
special was that dumbness walked hand in hand with a childlike
innocence and a belief that the world was All Good and All Kind.
So when they are told to put "Blue Boy" on top of
the piano,
perhaps they question it for a moment or two, but then they go right
ahead and do exactly what they are told, knowing that things will
always work out (even though they never do.) Similar to this
is
my favorite moment in PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES when they are told,
sarcastically, to bring the garbage to The General, and do exactly
that.