They Go Boom! *** (1929, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charlie Hall, Sam Lufkin) – Classic Movie Review 7861

‘Mr Hardy had the sniffles – his carburetor hadn’t been right for days and days.’ Stan Laurel ministers to Oliver Hardy, who has got a terrible cold, but naturally he soon nearly wrecks the place, in director James Parrott’s slightly inferior, though still very pleasantly amusing and entertaining 1929 all-talking Laurel and Hardy comedy short film They Go Boom!

Leo McCarey and H M Walker’s script does its inventive best to take every conceivable advantage from the limited situation – the inflated air mattress from a gas jet till Ollie is pressed against the ceiling is funny, and so is applying a mustard plaster to his Ollie’s bottom – and the boys are of course fine as always.

Plus, there is nice support from Laurel and Hardy regulars Charlie Hall (as the grumpy landlord) and Sam Lufkin (as the policeman).

There is music only at the beginning and end of the film, but instead it makes effective use of sound effects.

They Go Boom! was available only as a silent film for many years until one of the original Vitaphone sound discs was finally discovered, and the sound version is now restored.

They Go Boom is directed by James Parrott, runs 20 minutes, is made by Hal Roach Studios, released by MGM, is written by Leo McCarey (story) and H M Walker (writer), is shot in black and white by George Stevens and Art Lloyd, is produced by Hal Roach, and is scored by William Axt (uncredited composer of stock music) and Spencer Williams (uncredited composer of stock music).

Though the opening title sets the time of the action as 3 am, the alarm clock shows 2 am.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7861

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