User Reviews

WHENEVER an idea was successful during those "Golden Days" of the Silent Movies, you could bet your bottom dollar that it would be repeated; although "Reworking" is the term that is used. Of course one could make the argument that this reworking business has never left us, for success in the Movies or TV always leads to a trend; with all competing parties vying to come up with their own version of said hit Movie or TV Program.

TO this last premise we strongly disagree; for this is copycatting or plagiarism, plain and simple.

THIS, the last Silent Laurel & Hardy Short, surely must have been quite well received; for ANGORA LOVE (Hal Roach/MGM, 1929) was reworked on the Roach Lot, not once, but twice over the next three years. We were treated to LAUGHING GRAVY (Roach/MGM, 1931), in which the Goat was replaced with a cute, little puppy-dog. Also, the weather is transformed into the dead of Winter, in the middle of a blizzard. They also made other line-up changes with substituting Landlord Edgar Kennedy with Landlord Charlie Hall.

THE second reworking of the hidden animal premise is the 3 Reeler, THE CHIMP (Roach/MGM, 1932), which substituted a female ape from a dissolved and defunct Circus, to which Stan and Babe were former employees. The Circus paid off its employees with their assets and the Boys received the Chimpanzee as their final payday.

BACK to our original 'victim', today's subject, ANGORA LOVE. Recomember? THE short starts off simply enough. The boys encounter the Goat on the street and the Nanny in return follows them back to their rooming house; after Stan feeds a doughnut to her. The comic moments that follow are generated with the interplay between L & H and slow-burn exponent, Edgar Kennedy, their Landlord. The incident's impact is amplified by having the interplay occur at night. And as luck would have it; their room is situated directly above the Landlord's quarters.

IN addition to the noise, the bathing of the goat, its odor and Landlord Edgar's suspicions about Laurel & Hardy's having another person illegally in the room; we were most amused by a little throw-away gag, which may well have been missed by the Censors. While admonishing the boys about the noise they'd been making and reminding them of the house rules about any unauthorized person's being in there overnight, regardless of their sex.

ITS camera shot is made from inside The Boy's room, over their shoulder. With Edgar in the hall and facing them, he warns; "Remember, this is a respectable establishment!" Just as he says this, a lady clad in evening clothes walks across and behind the Landlord; followed by a uniformed Sailor, who cocks his hat forward as they pass! POODLE SCHNITZ!!

This was the last of many silent comedy shorts starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. If you're young at heart, I think you will enjoy it. There is the obvious situation comedy that the boys are 'forced' to keep an illicit animal in their hotel room, after it adopts them when Stan feeds it part of a doughnut. There is slapstick and sight gags scattered. Apparently, someone liked the basic plot, because it was repeated the next year in the talkie "Laughing Gravy", with a dog replacing the goat. Also, the basic plot that they are harboring an animal in their hotel room is again repeated in the 1932 "The Chimp"..........The film begins with a goat(Penelope) wandering away from it's apparent home in the small general store run by Charley Young. Why he keeps a goat in such a store is not explained. He calls a cop and claims someone stole the goat, also telling a boy to go look for it. The goat encounters the boys, and Stan unwisely feeds it. They try running a way, but that doesn't work. Ollie says that goats are bad luck. Just then, a boy encounters them and says that's the goat that was stolen from a store, and that he will go tell. So, they resign themselves to spending a night in a hotel, and somehow sneaking the goat in(We aren't shown this delicate operation). Once in, the goat occasionally makes a nuisance of itself, by eating the stuffing of a chair and the mattress. It pulls the cloth off the bureau, then pulls some loose wall paper off. Stan tries to fasten the wallpaper back with a tack and hammer, but Ollie stops him for fear of waking up the landlord, below their room. Both Ollie and Stan step on the tack. Then, Stan decides to use an stretch exercise strap set. In addition to arm stretching, he dances around, making noise that wakes up the landlord, who comes up to warn them. They hide the goat under the bed. ........Ollie says the goat smells. So, he suggests they give the goat a bath. This begins the last section of the film. They find a metal tub, way too small to fit the goat in. Nonetheless, they try. They have problems hitting the tub when they pour water in, and Ollie slips on the cake of soap, landing in the tub himself. The landlord appears again, after calling the police station, and Ollie, mad at Stan, throws the wash water at him, but hits the landlord. This begins a water fight between the 3, which eventually includes their neighbor Charlie Hall, who was also awakened. Eventually, a policeman shows up, sees the mess, but is more interested in the goat. He charges the landlord with stealing it, and takes him to the station. Just why the policeman picked on the landlord as the apparent thief, instead of the roomers, is not apparent. The boys think their goat problems are over, but then 3 tiny kids come out from under the bed.........See it at YouTube. Like the other silent L&H shorts, there is no colorized option.

Turner Classic Movie historian Ben Mankiewicz cites this Laurel and Hardy short as their last silent film. The opening title card states it's 'the dramatic story of a goat', and I guess you could call it that if you want, for me it was just funny. After the Boys make their acquaintance with said goat outside a pastry shop, the animal is immediately befriended by Stan with one of the tasty morsels, thereby making a friend for life, or at least the twenty minutes or so of this picture.

Having just watched their 1928 silent "Habeas Corpus", I noted a gag they repeated here when Ollie falls into a huge hole in the street filled with water trying to outrun the goat. I thought it might have been the same location used, but this time the street corner building was occupied by a shop whereas in the earlier film it was just a large drab structure. I suppose it could have been urban renewal.

Following the boys to their room in a hotel, the goat becomes an unwanted guest, with constant attempts by the landlord to figure out what all the noise is about. Edgar Kennedy was the perfect foil for these kind of roles, and his effort to proclaim his establishment as a respectable hotel leads to a sight gag of a sailor following one of the tenants to her room down the hall. That was probably pretty risqué stuff for 1929 but it slipped by to the amusement of this viewer.

I'm not enough of a Laurel and Hardy student to know if this was one of their better silent efforts, but it was amusing in most respects. If made today, I don't think the PETA folks would have taken kindly to the way the boys manhandled the goat getting him to take a bath, but it didn't look like the animal minded too much. Somewhere along the way it rewrote the rule book on reproductive anatomy, since the short ended with three cute but tiny goats emerging from under a cabinet. Not baaaad.

. . . on its Centennial in 2029 because its director, producer, presenter, writer, cameraman, editor and musical scoring guy are ALL males. The primary stars of ANGORA LOVE also are a couple of dudes, as are the blokes cast as the pet store owner, the cop, the street urchin, the landlord and the neighbor. However, the goat is a female named "Penelope." If ANGORA LOVE were remade Today, how much weight would the can-chewer carry with the Academy? Probably not enough.

1929, over 85 years ago, was a pretty prolific year in terms of films for Laurel and Hardy and this one also came out back then. It is black-and-whit and we still do not hear their voices, even if it is not a silent film anymore. As usual, it runs for 20 minutes roughly and with this one Laurel and Hardy try to satisfy the steadily-growing number of audience members who loved to see animals in movies. This one has a goat from start to finish. The duo takes care of her, but hides her from a landlord. When the police officer finally finds her in the end, a cute surprise is waiting for our heroes. I must say the only thing I liked here were the last 2 minutes. Some nice drama and comedy and of course the cute ending I already mentioned. Everything before that is fairly forgettable and not as funny as I hoped it could be. Laurel and Hardy have many funnier films out from the late 20s and early 30s. Maybe it's the goat's fault, maybe the writer's. But I do not recommend this one. The last 2 minutes are not worth sitting through the first 18. Thumbs down.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are the most famous comedy duo in history, and deservedly so, so I am happy to see any of their films. A goat manages to snap its rope and escape and the shop owner assumes it has been stolen and tells a policeman. The goat runs towards Stan and Ollie eating ring doughnuts, and a boy thinks that they are the ones that stole it, and the goat keeps following them till Ollie falls into a deep puddle. The goat has followed them for two days, all the way to a hotel room in St. Paul with the Landlord (Edgar Kennedy) sleeping right underneath, and when the goat is being noisy Ollie reminds Stan that they will be thrown out if they bother the Landlord. Ollie tries to relieve his aching foot, but he ends up taking the shoe and sock off and massaging Stan's foot, and the Landlord is bothered when Stan tries to knock a piece of wallpaper that the goat pulls off back in place. They hide the goat under the bed, and the before the Landlord goes back to his room, he reminds them it's a respectable hotel, as a woman and a sailor walk by the door. Just when he gets in bed Stan gets out again to do some exercise with his stretch bands on the door, which wakes the Landlord again, but he catches Ollie demonstrating how to do it quietly. After the Landlord leaves, the boys notice a stink, and they know they have to wash the goat, and getting the tub and water ready they tread on a pin and a mousetrap. Stan makes Ollie accidentally poor water on the floor, and water leaks through a hole in the Landlord's ceiling, and is almost woken by the fuss of getting the goat washed. A Neighbour (Charlie Hall) interrupts them knocking on the wrong door, and the Landlord is awake ringing the police reporting a murder will happen, then goes to deal with the boys. Ollie throws the tub water on Stan for annoying him, and manages to soak the Landlord instead, so a little water fight starts, and the Neighbour joins as well. The Landlord gets the Policeman (Harry Bernard) that comes to investigate the report, and he spots the goat, assuming that the Landlord stole it, so he takes him away, and Ollie says he never wants to see a goat again, but the film ends with three baby goats coming under the door. Also starring Charley Young as Mr. Caribeau. Filled with good slapstick and all classic comedy you want from a black and white silent film, it may a little grainy at times, but it is an enjoyable film. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Worth watching!