Post by StevePulaski on Dec 6, 2014 15:05:50 GMT -5
The Music Box (1932)
Directed by: James Parrott
Directed by: James Parrott
Rating: ★★½[/center]
The Music Box opens with Mrs. Von Schwarzenhoffen (Gladys Gale) purchasing a piano for her husband Professor Theodore Von Schwarzenhoffen, M.D., A.D., D.D.S., F.L.D., F-F-F-and-F (Billy Gilbert), which will be delivered just in time for his birthday by Laurel and Hardy Transfer Company. That sentence alone should let one know what they're getting into with this kind of short film, but I digress. Laurel and Hardy, in this particular short, are movers, and partake in the challenge of lugging a gigantic crate to the top of the staircase where Schwarzenhoffen lives. The two struggle, heaving, and hoing until one of them is about to do the heaving themselves, battling hernia and frustration after numerous failed attempts at getting the piano to its rightful owner.
The Music Box doesn't so much rely on slapstick as it does comedic repetition, sort of employing the logic that if something silly is done long enough it will prove to be funny. The result winds up being a moderately funny short that gets a few laughs because of the situational comedy and the persistency of its heroes. However, at twenty-eight minutes, The Music Box is a one-note joke stretched out far too thin, with little humor prevailing past the eighteen minute mark. The frustration becomes as real as Laurel and Hardy's by that point after watching the piano crate fall back down the stairs twice in a matter of minutes.
Once again, the witty, verbal banter between the hapless duo prevails and proves more memorable in a long term sense that the slapstick routines of Laurel and Hardy that simply feel like they're hitting a checklist of all the obligatory motions, figuratively and literally. The Music Box is entertaining to a degree and features committed physical performances by its actors, but is far too slight to justify such an usually lengthy runtime.
Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Billy Gilbert, and Gladys Gale. Directed by: James Parrott.
