Going Bye-Bye! **** (1934, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Mae Busch) – Classic Movie Review 7448

Director Charles [Charley] H Rogers’s 1934 comedy Going Bye-Bye! steers Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy smoothly to one of their finest short films.

Laurel and Hardy are key witnesses in the jailing for the rest of his life of a vengeful killer, Butch (Walter Long). ‘Aren’t you going to hang him?’ Stan asks the judge (Harry Dunkinson). ‘Couldn’t you see that he was annoyed?’ Ollie tells Stan.

Butch vows revenge on ‘squealers’ Stan and Ollie. When Butch escapes, the scared duo flee town with the sexy travelling companion (Mae Busch) they advertise for to share expenses, but she turns out to be Butch’s girlfriend.

Rough-house slapstick mixes with sitcom and a touch of surreal comedy to produce some of Laurel and Hardy’s best and funniest work.

Also in the cast are Lester Dorr, Tiny Sandford, Sam Lufkin, Fred Holmes, Harry Dunkinson, Baldwin Cooke, Charles Dorety and Elinor Vandeveer.

Going Bye Bye is directed by Charles H Rogers, runs 20 minutes, is made by Hal Roach Studios, is released by MGM, is written by Stan Laurel, is shot in black and white by Francis Corby, is produced by Hal Roach and is scored by Leroy Shield.

It reworks an early Laurel and Hardy silent comedy, Do Detectives Think?, and was reworked 11 years later for their 1945 final American film, The Bullfighters.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7448

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com