Nearly everything I was prepared to say about the early Stan Laurel comedy 'Just Rambling Along' turns out already to have been said in the perceptive comments by IMDb reviewer "wmorrow59". Morrow is indeed correct that Laurel's business with the salt and pepper shakers is cribbed from a Chaplin gag in 'The Immigrant'. Morrow is also correct that the cop in this movie is played by Noah Young. On my own, I'll note that 'Just Rambling Along' was produced by Rolin Films, the production company in which Hal Roach was half-partner (the 'Ro' in 'Rolin' was short for 'Roach'). When Roach went into solo production, Noah Young came with him and remained a stalwart support for Harold Lloyd, Snub Pollard and other Roach comedians.
However, with respect to reviewer Morrow, Laurel's stint as Chaplin's understudy in the Fred Karno troupe was hardly the low point of his career. After leaving Karno, Stan Laurel paid his dues in some pretty awful music-hall acts: "The Rum 'Uns from Rome" with fellow Karno alumnus Arthur Dandoe, followed by the even worse act "Fun on the Tyrol" featuring Laurel with two non-entities named Ted Leo and Bob Reed. During Chaplin's early film stardom at Keystone, Laurel toured American vaudeville with married couple Edgar & Ethel 'Wren' Hurley (both of them also from the Karno troupe) in a turn billed as 'The Keystone Trio', with Laurel impersonating Chaplin's tramp, Wren Hurley as Mabel Normand and her husband imitating Chester Conklin as a Keystone Cop. The act split up when Edgar Hurley wanted to swap roles with Laurel.
As reviewer Morrow correctly notes, when Laurel looks directly into the camera in close-up, the effect is genuinely eerie. Morrow does not give the reason for this: the pupils of Laurel's eyes were pale blue, and they happened to be precisely the colour that was insensitive to the early orthochromatic film stock. (Actress Lee Remick's eyes were the same shade, but during her career a panchromatic film stock was used.) When Laurel looks into the camera, his eyes look ghostly ... and the effect is so weird, it negates any comedy. In a television interview decades later, shortly before his death, Laurel recalled being told that he would never make it as a film actor because his eyes were the wrong colour. However, from Laurel's behaviour during this interview, he clearly seemed to be unaware of the genuine technical problems incurred by his eyes, and he seemed to think that the complaint about the colour of his eyes was merely a pretext (by people who thought he lacked talent) to let Laurel down easily without pricking his vanity.
Briefly glimpsed in 'Just Rambling Along' is Marie Mosquini, a brunette beauty who -- unlike so many other 1920s actresses -- remains astonishingly beautiful by modern (early 21st-century) standards of feminine beauty. After teaming with Snub Pollard in some of his best silent films, Mosquini married radio engineer Lee DeForest ... who helped develop the talking-film process.
'Just Rambling Along' contains some plot business that (with my British cultural references) I didn't understand, but which an American friend explained to me. I had often heard the phrase 'meal ticket' as a slang term, but was unaware of its literal meaning. In 'Just Rambling Along', Laurel cadges a meal in a working-class restaurant that used the now-obsolete device known as meal tickets: each time he selects a dish, another charge is totted onto his meal ticket, with payment expected afterward. Chaos ensues (but not much comedy, alas) when Laurel's meal ticket is swapped for another with a higher total on it.
I laughed precisely once during 'Just Rambling Along', when a cupful of water is thrown into Laurel's face and he pantomimes swimming away. Chaplin did that gag too. I'll rate this movie just 2 points in 10, mostly for its historical significance.
However, with respect to reviewer Morrow, Laurel's stint as Chaplin's understudy in the Fred Karno troupe was hardly the low point of his career. After leaving Karno, Stan Laurel paid his dues in some pretty awful music-hall acts: "The Rum 'Uns from Rome" with fellow Karno alumnus Arthur Dandoe, followed by the even worse act "Fun on the Tyrol" featuring Laurel with two non-entities named Ted Leo and Bob Reed. During Chaplin's early film stardom at Keystone, Laurel toured American vaudeville with married couple Edgar & Ethel 'Wren' Hurley (both of them also from the Karno troupe) in a turn billed as 'The Keystone Trio', with Laurel impersonating Chaplin's tramp, Wren Hurley as Mabel Normand and her husband imitating Chester Conklin as a Keystone Cop. The act split up when Edgar Hurley wanted to swap roles with Laurel.
As reviewer Morrow correctly notes, when Laurel looks directly into the camera in close-up, the effect is genuinely eerie. Morrow does not give the reason for this: the pupils of Laurel's eyes were pale blue, and they happened to be precisely the colour that was insensitive to the early orthochromatic film stock. (Actress Lee Remick's eyes were the same shade, but during her career a panchromatic film stock was used.) When Laurel looks into the camera, his eyes look ghostly ... and the effect is so weird, it negates any comedy. In a television interview decades later, shortly before his death, Laurel recalled being told that he would never make it as a film actor because his eyes were the wrong colour. However, from Laurel's behaviour during this interview, he clearly seemed to be unaware of the genuine technical problems incurred by his eyes, and he seemed to think that the complaint about the colour of his eyes was merely a pretext (by people who thought he lacked talent) to let Laurel down easily without pricking his vanity.
Briefly glimpsed in 'Just Rambling Along' is Marie Mosquini, a brunette beauty who -- unlike so many other 1920s actresses -- remains astonishingly beautiful by modern (early 21st-century) standards of feminine beauty. After teaming with Snub Pollard in some of his best silent films, Mosquini married radio engineer Lee DeForest ... who helped develop the talking-film process.
'Just Rambling Along' contains some plot business that (with my British cultural references) I didn't understand, but which an American friend explained to me. I had often heard the phrase 'meal ticket' as a slang term, but was unaware of its literal meaning. In 'Just Rambling Along', Laurel cadges a meal in a working-class restaurant that used the now-obsolete device known as meal tickets: each time he selects a dish, another charge is totted onto his meal ticket, with payment expected afterward. Chaos ensues (but not much comedy, alas) when Laurel's meal ticket is swapped for another with a higher total on it.
I laughed precisely once during 'Just Rambling Along', when a cupful of water is thrown into Laurel's face and he pantomimes swimming away. Chaplin did that gag too. I'll rate this movie just 2 points in 10, mostly for its historical significance.