Viola Richard Movies
- 1965
Five of Laurel and Hardy's best features from the silent film era are compiled in this collection by Robert Youngson. Included are From Soup To Nuts, Wrong Again, The Finishing Touch, and iberty. On hand are legendary comic foils like James Findlayson and Edgar Kennedy, both masters of the "slow burn" when showing their disapproval. Watch for Margaret Dumont, famous for her characterization as the flustered dowager in many Marx Brothers films, in the pie-fight scene. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide
- Starring:
- Jay Jackson, Stan Laurel, (more)
- 1935
Stan and Ollie play proprietors of an electric store, anxious to make friends with neighboring grocer Charlie Hall. Unfortunately they'd already earned the enmity of Hall in a previous two-reeler, Them That Hills (34), and he is in no mood to bury the hatchet. When Hall accuses Hardy of fooling around with Hall's wife (Mae Busch), the mortified Ollie demands an apology. In the battle that follows, Laurel and Hardy take turns with Charlie Hall in wrecking each other's business establishment--an orgy of destruction which is carried out in a calm, orderly, and hilarious "tit for tat" fashion. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
- 1928
In this Laurel and Hardy two-reel silent, Stan's toothache is keeping both him and Ollie awake. Their attempts to pull the tooth out also wake up their chagrined landlord (the perennial Laurel and Hardy landlord, Charlie Hall). The next day, Ollie takes Stan to a dentist (Jack V. Lloyd). Stan, after sitting in the waiting room and seeing the wreckage a dental visit can do, has gotten very nervous by the time his turn comes. Ollie tells the dentist to leave the room while he calms down the squeamish Stan. Ollie, naturally, is the one who winds up with an extracted tooth. Both of them finally leave the office under the influence of laughing gas. They encounter a cop (Edgar Kennedy, the perennial Laurel and Hardy policeman), who does not understand what is so funny. After several failed attempts to get them to stop laughing and get going, the cop takes over the wheel and drives them off -right into a puddle. Stan and Ollie are still laughing as they sink ever deeper into the mud. Much of the dentist's office scene was repeated in the boys' 1931 sound feature, Pardon Us. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
- 1928
Up until this two-reeler, Laurel and Hardy's films for Hal Roach were released under the "All-Star Comedy" label; Should Married Men Go Home is the start of the duo's own series, showing the faith Roach had in their future. The film opens up on a peaceful day for Ollie and his wife (Kay Deslys). The calm is broken by the arrival of Stan, who manages to visit even though the couple at first pretends not to be home. Stan wants to play golf; Ollie wants to stay home. Stan, however, causes so much unintentional mayhem that Mrs. Hardy finally tells them both to go. The golf course, it turns out, allows only foursomes, but Stan and Ollie solve this dilemma by pairing up with Edna Marian and Viola Richard. After taking the girls for a soda, they hit the course, with Stan, as is his wont, making a total mess of things. He befuddles another golfer (Edgar Kennedy) and finally the guy's ball lands in a puddle of mud. A mud fight involving a large number of people ensues. Eventually Edgar Kennedy finds his ball. The premise for this short was Oliver Hardy's real-life love of golf. No need to look "closely" for John Aasen during the mud fight -- the 8'-9" actor who co-starred with Harold Lloyd in Why Worry certainly stands out! ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide
