Up for comedy again tonight. I actually first saw this on the big screen as part of a Cinematheque double bill… can’t remember now what the other film was, but I remember loving this, and I loved it again tonight. I haven’t always been convinced by what I’ve seen of the boys’ features so far (possibly they were better suited to shorts), but this one works for me. Fairly simple plot again, with Stan & Ollie making their way through the old West in search of a young lady for whom they have a special package, namely, the deed to a gold mine she’s inherited. Of course, because they’re Stan and Ollie, they can’t not get this perfectly easy task terribly wrong, which leaves them with the problem of getting it back and safely delivered into the right hands. This is a great showcase for James Finlayson, L&H’s most important third wheel, but obviously Stan & Ollie themselves are the top draw here (it has to be said, Rosina Lawrence is not exactly well used as the good girl), and the film features some of the funniest comedy sequences I’ve seen in any film. Stan & Ollie’s dance to “Commence the Dancing”. “The Trail of the Lonesome Pine”, possibly the most implausible 1970s pop hit ever (only kept from the top of the UK charts by “Bohemian Rhapsody”). Stan just losing his shit during the tickling scene (his hilarity face is one of the greatest things in cinema). The hat-eating business. The attempted break-in where their mule inadvertently rises to the upper floor of the saloon. All this within a fairly tight 64 minutes, so it doesn’t exactly slack off much. Like I said, it doesn’t use Rosina Lawrence well, I think her character could’ve done more than she actually does, but any quibbles I have with the film like that are pretty much overcome by how good the thing is on the whole. I think this may be the first time I’ve seen this since that Cinemathque screening, and I am as pleased tonight as I was then.
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