I'll tell you why so serious

Crappy film

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

For this short subject Hal Roach placed Laurel&Hardy as workers in a sawmill. Just knowing that conjures up in your mind all kinds of sharp cutting tools that given their propensity for trouble you know the boys will be lucky to escape serious injury. So will any and all of the other workers at the sawmill.In fact there is a minute or so of footage in this film where you see men at work doing some serious labor at a sawmill. Also Roach really didn't have them working circular saws or chainsaws. I guess he did not want kids trying these things out at home. You never see them really involved with any of the truly dangerous things.They do however have an interesting climax where poor Ollie do to as usual Stan's bumbling goes through an exhaust the mill has for all the sawdust accumulated. And right at the mouth you see him stuck.Not the best of their shorts, but seeing Ollie going through that exhaust was classic. Might very well have inspired Charlie Chaplin to do the bit with the Little Tramp caught in the machinery in Modern Times.

'Busy Bodies' is my favourite short from Laurel and Hardy. Even today it still makes people laugh. It's strange seeing real stunts in films now but it makes this short much funnier. Stan Laurel plays his character very well, evoking sympathy from the audience and providing most of the comedy in this part as usual. Oliver Hardy's role is the ordinary guy (as ordinary as he can be) and his character reacts to Laurel's unusual character. They both work together very well and it is easy to see why they both had such successful careers together. The script in this short starts out with them on a normal day going to work, getting on well with each other, singing in the car (or trying to in Stan's case). As soon as they arrive at work their behaviour and intelligence is shown to be anything but normal and hilarity ensues. From start to the very end this short will make you laugh despite them both only saying a few lines each. If you have not seen any Laurel and Hardy films then this would be a great place to start, it is by far one of their funniest.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are the most famous comedy duo in history, and deservedly so, so I am happy to see any of their films. Stan and Ollie are happy to be driving to work with a record player under their car bonnet. They work at the wood works factory, and as soon as they arrive passing planks of wood are going in their faces, and a water pipe bursts when Stan puts a nail in for a coat hook. Ollie starts by fixing a stuck wooden window frame, and when Stan gets it open, Ollie's fingers get stuck. Stan tries all angles, looking at some blue prints (of the boulder dam) and turning the frame, till eventually he stands on the table, pulling too hard, and they both topple over breaking the frame. A co-worker (Charlie Hall) is annoyed that he is knocked over again (like near the beginning), and after a little punch up Stan offers him a cigar when he's being nice, but gets him in trouble for smoking. So the boys continue work, with Stan's wood shaving plane going over Ollie's backside, and of course after Ollie hits back, Stan puts the glue brush on Ollie's face and pushes him, causing a crash and falling objects on his head. Stan of course tries to help Ollie get the brush off his chin, well, he manages the handle (looks like he has a Jewish beard), so he practically shaves the rest off. Stan turns the hose back on, and Ollie pulls it and the sink off the wall, falling backwards and going up a conveyor belt strap, through the floor, down a chute, through the tunnels, smacked by a paddle, and stuck at the end. He and Stan both fall off the ladder at the tunnel's end, crashing on top of their boss. forcing them to get their car and drive away. The end of the film sees them drive the car through a horizontal working saw, splitting the car in half, and all that still works is the record player. Filled with wonderful slapstick and all classic comedy you could want from a black and white film, it is an enjoyable film. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Good!

Some comedians rely on plot and screenplay - such as the Marx Brothers, who have to have sharp dialog for Groucho and Chico, and some social target to aim at. So did W. C. Fields. But Laurel & Hardy were frequently at their best when they had a simple story line and just expanded the situation without words.IN BUSY BODIES they are going to work at a wood mill run by Tiny Sanford. They have to go to work by car, and we see them in a rare moment of pleasant peace with the world, listening to music on their car radio - or I should say car "radio" as it is something special. They arrive at the work site, and quickly have their first run in with Charlie Hall, causing him to become discomforted by a mild joke (which he is not crazy about). But shortly they head inside, and keep getting into a variety of simple but effective sequences that are pure gold humor. First Ollie keeps getting hit in the head by co-workers with bars. Then Ollie's fingers get stuck in a window frame, that Stan can't quite get him out of. Curiously enough Stan starts showing a bit of initiative here - looking at a blueprint supposedly of the window frame. Ollie, impatiently points out it is a blue print for the Hoover/Boulder Dam (why? what's it doing there?). Shortly occurs another confrontation with Hall, which ends with a surprising action by Stan. More mayhem (including Stan having to give Ollie a shave with a wood plane - you have to be there to see it) follows, topped by Ollie being shot through an air duct into crashing on top of a shed, demolishing it (and nearly demolishing Tiny Sanford). The film ends with the boys trying to drive off in their Model T, only to find that a buzz saw has other other ideas.It is not as organized as say THE MUSIC BOX or HELPMATES, but it is as funny as those two sound shorts were. This is a delight to watch to see how the boys did so much with so little.