Helpmates (1932)

User Rating:

7.9/10   

Director:

James Parrott

Writer:

H.M. Walker (dialogue)

Release Date:

23 January 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Short | Comedy

Tagline:

When the cats are away, the mice start looking up telephone numbers

Plot:

Oliver's house is in a shambles after a wild party, and his wife is due home at noon. He calls Stanley to help him fix the place up...

Plot Keywords:

Fire | Gasoline | Party | Laurel And Hardy | Head Through Drawer

Cast

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

Runtime:

20 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Finland:S (1959) | Germany:o.Al. | UK:U

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Trivia:

At one point Stan Laurel gives out a phone number, and it was his own personal number at the time.

Goofs:

Continuity: Stan has attached the drying line to the kitchen door and, when Ollie opens it, he pulls down the chimney pipe from the stove and is hit by a cloud of soot. Stan comes over and takes off Ollie's hat, and, trying to clean it , blows the soot from the top into Ollie's face. But the top of his hat was white and clean in the previous shot.

Quotes:

Ollie: Get this house cleaned up! Do you know that my wife will be home at noon!
Stan: Say, what do you think I am? Cinderella? If I had any sense I'd walk out on you.
Ollie: Well it's a good thing you haven't any sense!
Stan: It certainly is!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Crazy World of Laurel and Hardy (1967)

Soundtrack:

The KuKu

Absolutely the Classic it's made out to be

Helpmates has laughs from beginning to end, replete with the slapstick and wordplay that are the trademarks of the greatest film comedy team ever. It's twenty minutes of delight and each gag builds on the one before and sets up the next, a crazy crescendo in a symphony of sublime silliness. The comic Lou Costello was once asked who he thought was the greatest comedy team of all time and he unhesitatingly named Laurel and Hardy. Helpmates is worth many watches. This 1932 short nearly equals their Oscar winning short, The Music Box. See it. Then visit the Boys again and again. Laurel and Hardy - except for their mishandling by Fox in the 1940s -- are, as the great Steve Allen once said - ALWAYS funny.