Laurel and Hardy have decided to put their financial business in order and have gone into business as a delivery firm. One job is the delivery of a piano however they find that the address is at the top of a long flight of steps leading up a hill. Getting it up is easy getting to stay up is harder and actually delivering it to the address is harder still. But, where there's a will
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This short is almost double the length of their normal shorts but the reason is simply that the plot could have easily been two separate short films. The first part involves them getting up to the house, the second involves them actually getting the piano into the house itself. Both are very funny but the first part is the longer and the result is that it does feel a little stretched and slightly repetitive after a while. The two routines are a mix of stupidity and physical humour both are quite basic to describe but the staging and delivery still makes it funny today.
As always the performances of Laurel and Hardy make it work so well. The looks on both their faces are worth a hatful of laughs throughout the film and their physical work is comparable to some of the best physical comedians in the business. A brief musical number is amusing and helps break up the physical jokes but is happily not an unfunny song and dance piece. The support cast are amusing but really the lead two do it all the way.
Overall this is longer than the usual shorts and at times it shows but generally the quality of the routines is high and the delivery of a talented duo interacting with the audience makes for a very enjoyable 40 minutes.
This short is almost double the length of their normal shorts but the reason is simply that the plot could have easily been two separate short films. The first part involves them getting up to the house, the second involves them actually getting the piano into the house itself. Both are very funny but the first part is the longer and the result is that it does feel a little stretched and slightly repetitive after a while. The two routines are a mix of stupidity and physical humour both are quite basic to describe but the staging and delivery still makes it funny today.
As always the performances of Laurel and Hardy make it work so well. The looks on both their faces are worth a hatful of laughs throughout the film and their physical work is comparable to some of the best physical comedians in the business. A brief musical number is amusing and helps break up the physical jokes but is happily not an unfunny song and dance piece. The support cast are amusing but really the lead two do it all the way.
Overall this is longer than the usual shorts and at times it shows but generally the quality of the routines is high and the delivery of a talented duo interacting with the audience makes for a very enjoyable 40 minutes.