Men O’War **** (1929, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson) – Classic Movie Review 9455

Director Lewis R Foster’s 1929 two-reeler short comedy Men O’War stars Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as sailors on shore leave, who meet two giggling girls (Anne Cornwall, Gloria Greer) in the park. Written and filmed in May 1929, and released on 29 June 1929, it is the third sound film starring Laurel and Hardy.

Laurel is left with no money to pay angry soda seller James Finlayson, but later Stanley hits the jackpot on a slot machine, and they can afford to hire a boat. But they show their inevitable lack of seamanship when they take the girls boating, and then start an all-out battle royal with other boaters.

This refined version of their Berth Marks is consistently funny. There are both silent and sound versions, but the all-talking version is much better as the story and comedy are driven by dialogue. Unusually, for Laurel and Hardy, it is shot mostly on location. The soda-fountain sequence is a refinement of the one in 1928’s Should Married Me Go Home? Most of the film was shot at Hollenbeck Park in Los Angeles, though the soda-fountain sequence was shot in the Hal Roach studio.

Also in the cast are Harry Bernard, Pete Gordon, Charlie Hall and Baldwin Cooke.

Men O’ War is directed by Lewis R Foster, runs 20 minutes, is made by Hal Roach Studios, is released by MGM, is written by H M Walker (dialogue) and Leo McCarey (uncredited), is shot in black and white by George Stevens and Jack Roach, produced by Hal Roach, and scored by William Axt (composer stock music) and S Williams (composer stock music).

It is Finlayson’s first sound film, using his trademark ‘D’oh!’ for the first time. Dan Castellaneta reused it for Homer Simpson. Finlayson plays Pa Weaver in the 1929 feature Two Weeks Off, released earlier on 12 May 1929, which was made as a silent, though an alternate version has talking sequences, a musical score and sound effects.

Some prints are titled Man O’War. There is also a colorized version.

The song ‘Runnin’ Wild’ is over the opening credits, and is also used in They Go Boom!.

The difficulties of filming on location in the early sound era are evident in poor sound quality, with echoing and background noise, and the public’s off-screen laughing is audible.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 9455

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