Big Business (1929)

User Rating:

8.2/10   

Directors:

James W. Horne
Leo McCarey

Writer:

H.M. Walker (titles)

Release Date:

20 April 1929 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy | Family

Tagline:

The story of a man who turned the other cheek-and got punched in the nose.

Plot:

Ollie and Stanley are two Christmas Tree sales reps who get into one of their usual mutual destruction fights with a homeowner.

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | Hose | Tit For Tat | Automobile | Laurel And Hardy

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Stan Laurel	...	Stan
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie

Runtime:

19 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Finland:S (1982) | Germany:o.Al. | UK:U

Filming Locations:

10281 Dunleer Drive, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Trivia:

Hal Roach bought a house and its contents from a man, and sent him on his way in his Model T. When it came time to film this short, Roach arrived on location late in the afternoon and found that the actors and crew had actually destroyed the house next door.

Movie Connections:

Edited into When Comedy Was King (1960)

Iconic Laurel & Hardy humor

*XMAS SPOILERS*

One of The Boys' funniest silent films, 'Big Business' contains their trademark Reciprocating Destruction theme. Irascible James Finlayson's temper and Stanley's oblivious ineptitude light the fuse to a battle that starts with a broken tree branch and ends with the total destruction of a Model T and the partial destruction of a Culver City bungalow.

It's a sheer delight to watch The Boys and Fin deliberately, and with malice aforethought, find new ways to inflict indignities upon each others' property. Fin cuts up the Christmas tree they were trying to sell, Stanley takes a pen knife and carves the wood off Fin's door frame. From there, we build to a crescendo of Stanley pulling up shrubs and hurling them through windows and Ollie methodically potholing the yard with a shovel, while Fin dances on the rubble that used to be The Boys' delivery truck. The neighbors gather on the sidewalk, unsure what to make of the melee; even the neighborhood cop is too stunned to step in and break it up.

This is a sport at which Laurel & Hardy excelled, and at which they can be seen again in the all-out wardrobe assault of 'Hats Off' and the freeway free-for-all of 'Two Tars', possibly their greatest Reciprocating Destruction movie.

This is a movie you should definitely buy.