Leave ‘Em Laughing **** (1928, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charlie Hall) – Classic Movie Review 8551

‘What’s worse than an aching tooth at three in the morning. Two of them.’

There is much good-natured mirth when Stan Laurel goes to the dentist’s surgery, with predictable results when he and his mate Oliver Hardy find that the gas is an endless laughing matter.

Director Clyde A Bruckman’s extremely enjoyable 1928 silent comedy short film Leave ’Em Laughing begins with a riotous sequence in which Stan extracts all of Ollie’s good teeth. Then the middle section is slower and slightly less amusing. But then there are lots more big laughs again later when, still gassed up, they set off in their car and encounter traffic cop Edgar Kennedy, a giant traffic jam ensuing.

Charlie Hall is funny as their landlord who tells them that he is evicting them in the morning after all the noise. It ends, true to the title, with Stan and Ollie going to their car, still laughing their heads off from the gas.

Also in the cast are Dorothy Coburn and Viola Richard as nurses, Tiny Sandford, Edgar Dearing, Al Hallett Sam Lufkin as dental patients, Otto Fries as Burly Dentist, Jack V Lloyd as Dentist, and Jack Hill as Irate Motorist.

Leave ’Em Laughing is directed by Clyde A Bruckman, runs 20 minutes, is made by Hal Roach Studios, is released by MGM, is written by Hal Roach (story) and Reed Heustis (titles), is shot in black and white by George Stevens and is produced by Hal Roach, scored by Evie Greene.

It was shot in October 1927 and released on 28 January 1928. It is Edgar Kennedy’s first appearance in a Laurel and Hardy film.

It was remade by The Three Stooges in 1943 as I Can Hardly Wait.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8551

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