Stan and Ollie usually were at great odds with the defenders of law and order. In their early feature film, PARDON US, they end up in prison when Stan sells their first batch of prohibition booze to a police officer. In THE HOOSEGOW they are on a chain gang, and manage to make a visit by the state governor (Jimmy Finlayson) a total disaster for their warden (Tiny Stanford). In SCRAM they run afoul of a no-nonsenses judge as vagrants, and end up getting drunk in his home, wearing his pajamas and clothes, while apparently playing house with his wife. There are plenty of other examples - even the scene in BABES IN TOYLAND (a fantasy mind you) where the boys are found guilty of trying to burglarize Barnaby's (Henry Kleinbach's) home, and are dunked as a result.
Therefore, THE MIDNIGHT PATROL is quite unique in that Stan and Ollie are now members of the town police force. And they are just as incompetent here as as when they sold that hooch in PARDON US. Driving around in their patrol car, they manage to get their tires stolen. They confront Charlie Hall in a jewelry store robbing it, and only belatedly realize he is not the owner. What follows is particularly amusing and surreal. The boys can't find the time to bring Hall in to the precinct for booking, and ask him to turn himself in the next day. The problem is that Hall (checking his schedule in a pocket record book) finds he can't do it, because he is planning a robbery on that date. They manage to find a date shortly afterward.
They are sent to investigate an address where a person was seen by neighbors (it is nighttime, after all) who may be a burglar. In the course of checking this tip off, the boys manage to have a variety of mishaps reminiscent of their problems (a year before) in their Oscar winning short THE MUSIC BOX (particularly Ollie's mishaps with a bench and a fountain). They do get the mysterious person - who turns out to be less mysterious then they expected - and far more dangerous than anyone expected. I won't say anymore than that.
Despite a type of downer conclusion, the film is quite a funny one, and among the best of their talkie shorts.
Therefore, THE MIDNIGHT PATROL is quite unique in that Stan and Ollie are now members of the town police force. And they are just as incompetent here as as when they sold that hooch in PARDON US. Driving around in their patrol car, they manage to get their tires stolen. They confront Charlie Hall in a jewelry store robbing it, and only belatedly realize he is not the owner. What follows is particularly amusing and surreal. The boys can't find the time to bring Hall in to the precinct for booking, and ask him to turn himself in the next day. The problem is that Hall (checking his schedule in a pocket record book) finds he can't do it, because he is planning a robbery on that date. They manage to find a date shortly afterward.
They are sent to investigate an address where a person was seen by neighbors (it is nighttime, after all) who may be a burglar. In the course of checking this tip off, the boys manage to have a variety of mishaps reminiscent of their problems (a year before) in their Oscar winning short THE MUSIC BOX (particularly Ollie's mishaps with a bench and a fountain). They do get the mysterious person - who turns out to be less mysterious then they expected - and far more dangerous than anyone expected. I won't say anymore than that.
Despite a type of downer conclusion, the film is quite a funny one, and among the best of their talkie shorts.