Men o' War (1929)
Director:
Lewis R. Foster
Writer:
H.M. Walker (dialogue)
Stars:
Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson
In this early Laurel and Hardy sound short, Stan and Ollie are a pair of sailors on leave. They meet two girls at a park (Anne Cornwall and Gloria Greer). They have also found a pair of bloomers, which they assume belongs to one of the young ladies. Delicately, they try to discern if either of the girls has "lost something," and since one of them has lost her gloves, a dialogue loaded with unintentional double meanings ensues. When the situation is finally cleared up (a cop finds the girl's gloves), the foursome goes for sodas. Stan and Ollie only have 15 cents between them and since this won't fund four drinks, Ollie orders Stan not to order one for himself. Stan does not comprehend this, and his confusion increasingly irritates the fountain's manager (James Finlayson). Finally he figures it out, and the boys order one soda between them. Stan drinks it all, and Ollie sticks him with the 30 cent bill. Stan gambles what he does have on a slot machine and not only comes up with the money for the sodas, but also enough for a boat ride on the lake. The boys are terrible sailors and manage to annoy the rest of the lake's boaters. Their boat, to no one's surprise, sinks in the end. This is the second time Laurel and Hardy portrayed sailors; the first was in the excellent 1928 silent, Two Tars. A version of the soda fountain segment was done previously in Should Married Men Go Home?, another silent 1928 two-reeler.
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