Having just watched Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy work in a mansion in the silent short From Soup to Nuts, here they are again at another such place in the talkie short Another Fine Mess. This time, they're on the run from the police for sleeping on park benches and they end up in the cellar of the residence of one Colonel Buckshot (James Finlayson) who's leaving on vacation. When they find out that the butler and maid are also taking time off, and with a cop still on the lookout for them, Stan poses as both butler and maid and Ollie poses as the Colonel as a young society couple arrives to rent the place. The lady of that couple is played by Thelma Todd who'd appear in quite a few of the L & H shorts and eventually star in her own Hal Roach series with first Zasu Pitts and then Patsy Kelly. She's quite charming when she converses with Stan's portrayal of maid "Agnes"! Hardy as Buckshot also gets his charms when playing him when conversing with the man of the renting couple who has quite a funny laugh which gets quite a workout here, that's for sure! As for Finlayson, well, he only has the beginning and near the end scenes to appear but he does what he can in those scenes and make them count! All in all, Another Fine Mess was quite a funny L & H short. P. S. The twin ladies who recite the credits at the beginning are Beverly and Betty Mae Crane who served the same function during this period on all Hal Roach shorts like the Our Gang entries Teacher's Pet, School's Out, and Love Business which I've also reviewed on this site. So as we leave Stan & Ollie behind, we next will visit Bud Abbott & Lou Costello when they also come In Society.
Review of Another Fine Mess
