There's nothing rough-edged about this feature film. By this stage of their careers, Laurel and Hardy knew pretty much exactly what they were doing, and it works as well here as anywhere else.
It's 1917, World War I, and Hardy and the rest go over the top while Laurel is left behind in the trench to guard his post until relieved. Laurel is forgotten by the Army.
Twenty years pass and Laurel sticks to his daily routine, marching back and forth in the trench, throwing his empty bean can on a mountain of empty cans. Finally he's discovered and taken to an Army hospital in Los Angeles, where he winds up squirming into an amputees wheelchair so that it appears that he has lost a leg.
Hardy sees Laurel's photo in the newspaper and rushes to the hospital. Seeing Laurel with only one leg, Hardy offers to carry him home and give him a good meal. In the movie's funniest scene, Hardy is hefting the compliant but stupid Laurel along the sidewalk. At one point Hardy drops his hat, falls down trying to retrieve it. Laurel gets to his feet, helps Hardy up, hops back into Hardy's arms, and the trek continues all the way to the car before Hardy realizes what's up.
Back at the apartment, the Army theme is dropped and it becomes a familiar tale of Hardy getting mixed up with his own wife and a pretty next-door neighbor who is married to a blustering big game hunter. "I don't bring 'em back alive. I bring 'em back dead. I come back alive!" It's certainly one of their better features.
It's 1917, World War I, and Hardy and the rest go over the top while Laurel is left behind in the trench to guard his post until relieved. Laurel is forgotten by the Army.
Twenty years pass and Laurel sticks to his daily routine, marching back and forth in the trench, throwing his empty bean can on a mountain of empty cans. Finally he's discovered and taken to an Army hospital in Los Angeles, where he winds up squirming into an amputees wheelchair so that it appears that he has lost a leg.
Hardy sees Laurel's photo in the newspaper and rushes to the hospital. Seeing Laurel with only one leg, Hardy offers to carry him home and give him a good meal. In the movie's funniest scene, Hardy is hefting the compliant but stupid Laurel along the sidewalk. At one point Hardy drops his hat, falls down trying to retrieve it. Laurel gets to his feet, helps Hardy up, hops back into Hardy's arms, and the trek continues all the way to the car before Hardy realizes what's up.
Back at the apartment, the Army theme is dropped and it becomes a familiar tale of Hardy getting mixed up with his own wife and a pretty next-door neighbor who is married to a blustering big game hunter. "I don't bring 'em back alive. I bring 'em back dead. I come back alive!" It's certainly one of their better features.