The Finishing Touch (1928)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Directors:

Clyde Bruckman
Leo McCarey

Writer:

H.M. Walker (titles)

Release Date:

25 February 1928 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

The boys are contracted to build a house in one day. Upon completion, a bird lands on the chimney and the house collapses...

Plot Keywords:

House | Bird | Nurse | Police Officer | Laurel And Hardy

Cast

Stan Laurel	...	Stan
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dorothy Coburn	...	Nurse
Edgar Kennedy	...	Cop (as Ed Kennedy)
Sam Lufkin	...	Owner of the house

Runtime:

USA:19 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Motor Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Trivia:

The final gag, in which the boys' truck slams into the house, was a misfire. The script called for the truck to drive all the way through the house, but the carpenters had not built the house to property man Thomas Benton Roberts' specifications, so the truck was unable to penetrate it completely. Rather than rebuild the house for one gag, the cast and crew chose to keep the end gag as filmed.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At the beginning of the film, a van is rolling downhill before being caught. As it stops a crew member is visible outside the cab on the driver's side, controlling the van.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Dance of the Cookoos (1982)

The L & H touch

In 'The Finishing Touch', directed by a master of slapstick (Clyde Bruckman) and supervised by a pillar of American comedy (Leo McCarey), Laurel and Hardy have fully developed their film personalities. The plot, that reminds Keaton's `One Week' and The Three Stooges `The sitter-downers', is merely an excuse for bringing up the best of the duo's explosive chemistry. The power of their humor relies not in the impact or unawareness of a gag, but in a skillful preparation of the comic situation. Laurel and Hardy's best trick is the anticipation of an effect and the audience's involvement in its prediction. Repetition is fundamental and the pace and timing of the build-up a hard to match one.