Review of One Good Turn

This is a Laurel and Hardy short film from 1931, so almost 85 years ago already. Wow. It is in black-and-white, not silent anymore and runs for slightly under 20 minutes and looking at how the whole thing is basically only about a single misunderstanding, I have to say they did a good job with keeping that storyline intact and not letting it drag too much. Laurel gets his revenge in the end and boy I had no idea he was such a violent fella. Of course, it also backfires at him again too. The duo mistakes a theater play recital for an actual conversation and they believe an old woman is about to get evicted from her home. They try their best to prevent this from happening for the rest of the film. As always, chaos ensues. Director Horne and writer Walker worked on several L&H film, so they knew exactly what they were doing to make two of the biggest stars at that point appear as interesting as ever. Finally, just a little scene I found funny: The landlord says at some point that he will get his minions to clear the place and I immediately had to wonder if he was the villain the yellow little creatures from 2Despicable Me" were hanging around with back in the 1930s. Anyway, if you haven't seen the film, you will probably have absolutely no idea what I am talking about. Oh yeah, and aging makeup was very popular back then as well. The actress who played the old lady was a lot younger. Then again, Méliès made himself look considerably older in the 1890s already. "One Good Turn" could have been five minutes shorter maybe for a better viewing experience, but it is still a decent watch. Recommended.