8mm Forum: "Pardon Us" (Laurel and Hardy)

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Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 02, 2006, 12:11 PM:

I have long been a fan of Laurel and Hardy, and I thought that thier first feature would be a good place to start for reviews.

"Pardon Us" was made in 1930 and, as stated above, was thier first venture into features. This particular film partially came about as Hal Roach got possesion of the sets from a recently filmed jail epic, "The Big House", and there had been a script for a Laurel and Hardy short of them in the Big house, and therefore, Viola!

They start the film as Bootleggers, who are proven to be very unsucessful, but before we go to jail, Laurels "buzzing tooth" (Laurel making a "Raspberry" almost everytime he finishes a sentence) is set up.

They get "inducted" into the jail, in a number of funny little viginettes. They are then integrated into jail life.
One of thier cellmates, "The Crusher" I believe, is impressed with Stan raspberrying him. Ollie is not as sucessful, recieving a punch in the nose.

It's bedtime, and the scene of the two of them trying to fit into the little bed is quite funny, before it finally collapses.

Next morning, it's time for school...

(convicts sing to each other)

" Good morning to you, good morning to you,
good moring dear playmates, good morning to you!"

which leads to a very "little Rascals" type scene, with the ever funny Jimmy
Finlayson, (a L&H regular)as the professor :

" Those who are here will say here, those who are not here will say absent. "

J :"Spell needle"
O :"N.e.i.d.l.e."
J : "There is no "I" in needle!"
S : "Then it's a rotten needle!"

J : "What is a blizzard?"
S : "A Blizzard (He thinks) A Blizzard is the inside of a buzzard!"

(Jimmy is more pissed)

J : Whats 3 plus 3?

(Stan thinks)

S. : "Six"
J. : "Correct"
S. : "With two left over."

(Ollie is laughing)

J. : "What are you laughing at?"
O. : "There's only one left over."
J. : "D'oooH!!!

Because of shooting spit wads at a fellow classmate (and hitting you know who!), they go to solitary confinement, with Stan crying all the way.

Once they get out, they accidentilly get in on an escape. This leads to the scene of the two of them in blackface as slaves, (by the way, the film takes place in the south), to the tune of some old slave songs. This is where Ollie sings the wonderful "lazy Moon" to the wonderful scene of Stan's dancing, always a treat.

All goes well for them on the lamb,, (haha , couldn't resist), until the prison wardens car breaks down, and Stan and Ollie work on it for the warden. They almost get away until Stan, who "vulcanized" his buzzing tooth with some bubble gum, and takes the gum out to adjust it, raspberrys the warden.

Once again, solitary confinement.

Upon gettin out, (and hearing a four part harmony rendition of "The Town where I was Born" Stan finally goes to the prison dentists, which leads to, I think, the funniest scene in the movie. Stan is worried about the dentists and Ollie is frustrated with him.

"What's the matter now?"
"I'm scared"
There's nothing to be scared of. Sometimes you really annoy
me. Why, the procedure is painless. I wouldn't be scared."
"You aren't scared, but what about all those other people."
"Why they were scared, they were laughing."
"Why, they could pull every tooth in my mouth and I wouldn't even feel it. "

Naturally, the Dentist accidentilly comes over and pulls Ollies tooth, with Ollie in great pain. He rolls his tongue around in his mouth and finds the hole, he looks at the audience and shakes his head "yes" He then slowly turns to Stan and say :

"Why didn't you tell him?"
"I thought you were laughing."

The dentist eventually pulls Stans tooth, but the wrong one, and he leaves still buzzing.

This leads to them spying on the warden. They imform the guard that they are on a hunger stirke. "We wont eat!"
This leads to the guard describing delectable dishes that have Ollie drooling and Stan unaffected, until Stan asks,

"Got any nuts?"

They decide to postpone their hunger strike.
This leads to the last scene, where they accidentilly start off a riot with the machine guns being passed to the inmates under the table. But Stan and Ollie accidently stop the prison escape and are set free to resume thier lives, "Where they left off", inducing Stan to ask the warden how many kegs of beer he'd like to buy, pissing off the warden all over again.

Whiule this isn't the absolute best L&H feature, it's still pretty high up there for me. This paticular feature I have as a Standard 8mm sound Blackhawk print, and the image is stunning, as thier standard 8mm prints were at times, even better than thier super 8 prints. This is also offered on super 8 from Blackhawk, and is a fun title.

I would suggest that if you have this title on laserdisc or DVD, (as I have it on laserdisc) you might want to rerecord the soundtrack, as the soundtrack is a little messy, but hey, it's a 1930 film and the laserdisc sountrack for this is stunning, very nicely cleaned up. The contrast and grain are very acceptable.

This feature runs, (I believe) 55 minutes. It's interesting to note that the laserdisc version runs about 65 or more minutes, but most of the added footage is a rerun of L7H as slaves and running through the same footage again. There is very little "new" footage, little snippets of dialogue and your missing very little from the film, I'd say about a minute, tops.

For those who do not have this film, you might want to try it on for size. It's a fun time filler and not so long at less than an hour, and what better way than spending an hour with Stan and Ollie!

The balcony is closed, (Hah! Take that Roger Ebert!)

[ June 03, 2006, 12:38 PM: Message edited by: Osi Osgood ]

Posted by Andrew Wilson (Member # 538) on June 02, 2006, 02:00 PM:

a excellent review their osi.andy.

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 02, 2006, 05:57 PM:

Thanks, I try.

The next one, In a day or two, is "Sons of the Desert", my personal favorite, followed by "Blockheads" and then "Way out West". Afterwards, I'll review a number of thier shorts.

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on June 02, 2006, 11:38 PM:

Osi,

I loved your post, It reminded me of some wonderful
memories of the film.

Pardon Us captures the feel and innocence of Stan and Ollie, reflecting the simpler time of their early talkies. Making it easygoing and pleasing,
it served as an impetus of their greater feature films to come.

Ollie’s angelic rendition of 'Lazy Moon', with Stan performing a gentle soft-shoe is charming. It makes me wonder why, Babe Hardy never had a recording contract in Hollywood?

The working title was originally: Their First Mistake.

Walter Long's character was the Tiger.

[ June 03, 2006, 05:03 PM: Message edited by: Michael De Angelis ]

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 03, 2006, 12:30 PM:

I extended the review with a few more quotes from the film that I remembered last night. Also, thanks for the info about Boris Karloff! I'd love to find out if that version is out on super 8 anywhere?

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on June 03, 2006, 04:21 PM:

Osi,

The feature was originally planned as a short,
and it expanded into a feature.
The preview release title was: The Rap, and then
it was changed to Their First Mistake.
The British release version is titled: Jailbirds
because they believed that the title Pardon Us
did not make any sense.

The 3M Laser Disc of Pardon Us is discontinued,
however it has significant additional footage
at 65 minutes. The preview was released at 70 minutes.
Preview critics loved it, but release critics felt differently.

American Movie Classics - Cable Television,
broadcasted the Spanish Language version titled:
En Bote De Bote. Which literally translates to
in the boat, from the boat.

However, the true syntax is described as:
In the Can, From the Can.

The prison break sequence is longer and more
hilarious than the current Film Classics versions
that are available on film.

Stan's trip into the water pond reveals
the wash off of the black face disguise
after he shuffles to the Lazy Moon dance.

There is also more interplay with visuals
and dialog that enriches the plot during the
pre-prison break, and the reaction of the
Warden with the Boys. They may be the
boys to us, but they are nonetheless
hardened in the eyes of the Warden.

Also the Warden orders the Blood Thirsty
Blood hounds to track down the Boys.
When the hounds reach them, they
are playing with them, instead of ripping them apart.
Unfortunately, the punch line is still there
but the set-up is missing.

Last but not least, the sequence of
The boys as retired old men, fishing on the
edge of a watering hole is missing.

Some historical music is missing too.
The first is sung prior to Lazy Moon,
(It is not available in English anywhere on disc or
film and considered lost to all historical
records. But it is available in the Spanish
Language release. This is unfortunate, because it
documents a form of Group singing that is non-existent
today.

The second song is performed with a longer
introduction: "The Savior is a Comin' Bye and Bye "
that the slaves sing in the fields prior to 'Hand Me Down'
and Way Down by the Old Camp Ground.

Currently, the Karloff footage is non-existent as well.

For more extensive details on Pardon Us, get the
Randy Skretvedt book: Laurel and Hardy, The Magic Behind the Movies.
It is a great read, and it contains a wealth of information on each title
plus additional information added to
the appendices section that are enlightening.

Michael

Posted by Osi Osgood (Member # 424) on June 05, 2006, 11:17 AM:

Micheal, you are a god-send (so to speak) of info on Laurel and Hardy! I would love to see that closing scene of the two of them as old Men. I own the 3M laserdisc version, and I forgot about a few details, so thank you.

Posted by Michael De Angelis (Member # 91) on June 05, 2006, 04:10 PM:

Osi,

You are welcome. [Smile]

I need to clarify, an earlier point which I made
regarding the extended footage.

The scene with the boys as old men was
shot and was scrapped after the inital
preview, and before it went
into general release.

The 3M laser disc does not have this footage.
It may exist, but at 76 years later I doubt it.

If I am able to clearly scan the text from the book,
I will try to post it here on the forum.

Michael

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