You won't be disappointed!

A brilliant film that helped define a genre

The first must-see film of the year.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

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 as Little Goofy and Ollie as Big Goofy are prison convicts (in stripy uniforms), and they decide to finish off and escape from the tunnel they have made under the floor boards of their cell. But with Stan's backside set alight by a candle, and Ollie bursting a water pipe, they decide to take a detour, leading to the office of the Prison Warden (Frank Brownlee). While they manage to escape into a queue of prisoners going out for exercise, the Warden's office is flooded. After finishing exercise the boys try to sneak away from the queue backwards and forwards, before seeing a pair of painters, and they turn their clothes inside to escape as them. They are followed by a suspicious prison guard, and they are painting everything in their path until he leaves them alone, until they finally decide to run. They manage to steal the clothes of two posh men, but they did not realise their car was taking the boys back to the prison, so they have to pretend to be posh. Of course there are problems at the dinner table, and the real two posh men are found eventually, and it ends with the boys marching back to their cell. Also starring Charlie Hall as Convict and James Finlayson as Gov. Browne Van Dyke. Filled with wonderful slapstick and all classic comedy you could want from a silent black and white film, it is an enjoyable film. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Good!

The movie is amusing enough but it's far from being the best Laurel & Hardy silent comedy shorts. The movie is at certain points dragging to much for that, especially toward its stretched out ending.It's a movie that certainly does have its great comical moments but not quite enough to really stand out as a comedy. The movie has a fun premise and some good comical moments and situations. However these moments and situations are rather stretched out in this movie, which causes them to be too long with as a result that it loses some of its comical power. This especially is the case in the ending of the movie, which takes too long. It makes the movie as a whole also feel too long, even though it of course is shorter than 20 minutes.But yes, the good moments in this movie certainly make sure that you'll still be entertained by this movie as a whole.The boys are in good form in this movie, which was one of their first teaming ups as a comedy duo. Especially Stan Laurel is in his element, while Oliver Hardy was still clearly searching and developing his character. It was a bit weird to see the boys without hair but unlike Samson, they don't lose any of their power. It's always fun to see James Finlayson in a Laurel & Hardy movie, even when it's a silent one. I thought I also noticed Walter Long as one of the convicts but I'm not too sure of this, also since he isn't credited.Slightly disappointing when compared to Laurel & Hardy's other work but entertaining enough to watch nevertheless.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

Generally thought to be the first official Laurel and Hardy release(although PUTTING PANTS ON PHILLIP is also put in this bracket),the boys don't wear their Bowler hats and have their heads shaved,but are very much a team in this early effort,more so than PPOP where they play against each other rather than for.There's plenty of amusing incident and situations(especially when they attempt to escape the jail as painters);one slight quibble is that as convicts,the characters they have to play here have a very slightly more unpleasing edge than they would be establishing only a few films later in the partnership.Still funny though,and Jimmy Finlayson's double take and fade away is worth a few more laughs as well here;in early publicity material the boys were sometimes billed as 'Hardy and Laurel' in this film;that soon changed.

Originally advertised as the first 'official' Laurel & Hardy film (although still part of the Hal Roach 'All-Star' films - designed to feature old stars of the Roach 'stable' on the downgrade, and showcase those whom Roach hoped would be future stars - in which Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy had been appearing since the previous year; the first film in the 'Laurel & Hardy' series would be SHOULD MARRIED MEN GO HOME?, released in 1928), this is a mildly amusing little comedy, with Stan ('Little Goofy') and Oliver teamed as convicts who escape from prison and assume different disguises. Part of the interest surrounding this film stems not only from the fact that it is the first 'official' Laurel & Hardy film, but also from it being the film that led Stan Laurel to acquire his famous spiky hair that became a part of his screen image. Both Stan and Oliver had their heads shaved for this film, and later, as his hair was growing back, Stan noticed that his constant attempts to keep his hair under control were causing the crew and other people on the Hal Roach lot to laugh. So Stan, the greatest gag inventor (and gag executor) that ever lived, decided to keep his hair spiked in his films, due to its usefulness as a laugh-getter. Stan and Oliver's shaved heads can also be seen in the next film they made together, a cameo in the Max Davidson comedy, CALL OF THE CUCKOOS.This film can be enjoyed to a greater extent (as can all the silent films) with the addition of wonderful recreations of the Shields and Hatley tunes by the Beau Hunks orchestra - those who own a copy of THE SECOND HUNDRED YEARS on VVL as I do are fortunate enough to have these marvellous little melodies playing in the background; if you don't, buy the CDs and play them while you're watching.