Them Thar Hills
Stan and Ollie travel to the mountains for Ollie's health, and park their caravan near a well into which a gang of moonshiners have earlier dumped their moonshine; and the boys proceed to quench their thirst thinking that it is iron-rich mountain water. The real trouble doesn't begin, though, until a married motoring couple stop by to borrow some gasoline, and the already-cranky husband leaves his thirsty wife with the boys while he goes off to refill his car's empty gas-tank. A sequel was made to this film: TIT FOR TAT, q.v.
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- Cast：
- Stan Laurel , Oliver Hardy , Mae Busch , Charlie Hall , Billy Gilbert , Bobby Dunn , Richard Alexander
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Reviews
For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!
if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.
The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.
There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.
Them Thar Hills is one of the best Laurel and Hardy shorts. It works as both unite to have slapstick fun at the protagonist than each other and it is all done so economically.Oliver has been diagnosed with gout. It is too much high living, Stan suggests they move to the ground floor. The doctor tells them to go to the country for some simple living.When they arrive in the country with a trailer, they get drunk from the water in the well where some bootleggers emptied Moonshine in it. They come across a married couple whose car has broken down.The wife likes their hospitality and gets drunk with the mountain water from the well. Her crabby husband is far from pleased which leads to some tit for tat slapstick.This is just simply enjoyable fun.
This 20-minute movie is one of the later Laurel&Hardy short films and the two lead actors both were in their early 40s already when his was made. By now, even they had adapted to the new trend now that silent films were definitely a thing of the past. I saw there is a colored version of this short movie, but I watched the black-and-white original. Busch, Hall and Rogers are all people that Laurel & Hardy worked with in the past. So, never change a winning team? Unfortunately I did not find this one half as funny as Hardy did. He is sick and is sent to the countryside by his doctor. Of course, Laurel comes with him and the duo quickly finds a nice place next to a well. Unfortunately, the water in there includes lots of alcohol from previous occurrences at their place. They do not realize and the longer this short film gets, the more drunk they become. A couple arrives at the location as well and quickly the woman is drunk too. The man, however, does not take a sip and stays sober. He gets in trouble with our two heroes pretty quickly though. I personally did not find this short film very funny unfortunately. There was no real laugh-out-loud moment in the entire thing and I usually like these two. This has nothing to do with the fact that they are speaking now. Actually, Laurel's quote about how somebody was in there, namely him, was possibly the funniest moment about this film. One of not too many unfortunately. Not recommended.
Them Thar Hills (1934)** 1/2 (out of 4) Laurel and Hardy head out into the mountains for some fresh air and come across a well that bootleggers have filled with moonshine. There were some very funny moments here and there but overall this here really isn't anything too special.County Hospital (1932) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Hardy in the hospital with a broken leg so Laurel comes to pay a visit and gets him kicked out. I think this was my first L&H film and it remains one of my favorites. The stunt with the window and Hardy being thrown in the air is the highlight as is the final gag with the wrecked car.Chump at Oxford, A (1940) *** (out of 4) After stopping a bank robber Laurel and Hardy get the reward of an education at Oxford. This was the European version, which added a 20-minute prologue, which was a remake of From Soup to Nuts but it really doesn't work. The original is a lot better and contains a lot more laughs. The rest of the actual film here is very funny especially the maze sequence, which had tears coming from my eyes.
Stan and Ollie made a lot of shorts. So many that it's natural that there would be some repetition of the gags. In this film, the formula from their silent film BIG BUSINESS is repeated but this time with Charley Hall. In fact, their fight with Hall was so successful, that it was repeated a year later in TIT FOR TAT.Basically, what happens is that a small slap or insult or whatever provokes a response from Laurel and Hardy. And, this escalates and builds until the end result is total destruction. In BIG BUSINESS, a house and a car were destroyed, in TIT FOR TAT, two businesses bit the dust. In this film, Charley Hall is angry because the boys unintentionally got his wife drunk--resulting in him being covered in molasses and feathers and Stan and Ollie having their mobile home destroyed. It's formula but it's a good and funny one at that.Nothing super new, but done so well.
