User Reviews

Ideally, you should have seen "Them Thar Hills" recently, as this is a sequel to it, involving the same 4 main characters: Stan ,Ollie, Charlie Hall, and Mae Busch, as Charlie's wife. But, that's not really necessary to enjoy this tale of tit for tat by L&H, warring against Charlie, involving their nearby electronics and grocery stores, respectively. As in "Them Thar Hills" and "Big Business", for example, the boys clearly get the worst of the exchange: not only the property damage and physical insults, but they very carelessly left their open store unattended, which drew shoplifters. At first, one fellow takes just what he can carry. Then, he brings a wheelbarrow. The final time, he parked a moving van in front of their store! Very strangely, the boys pay no attention, even when they clearly see him taking things. Obviously, they wont be in business very long with that attitude. During their war, Charlie mostly destroyed property, whereas, the boys mostly heaped physical and oral insults on Charlie, such as dumping a big can of lard(supposedly) on his head. As in some of their other films, they usually stood there and allowed these insults to be completed. ... ,......Charlie's wife has a subsidiary, but important role, as the object of Charlie's jealousy, which starts the tit for tat war. Charlie saw Ollie come down the stairs with Mae, being cordial with each other. Charlie naturally assumed they were engaged in a clandestine relationship. In fact, Ollie was stranded on the top floor, outside her window, trying to put bulbs in their electric sign, when the ladder he used to get there was no longer present. Mae happened to be in the room then, and heard his distress calls. She had happy memories of their drunk spree, in "Them Thar Hills", so, was cordial with him, inviting him to descend the stairs after entering her room.........At one point, Ollie says to Stan that they are engaged in a tit for tat. Stan tips his hat, as this was what he thought he heard. .......See it in B&W or it's colorized version. I watched the latter.

I'm always learning something new when I research a film on the IMDb, like how this Laurel and Hardy short was a sequel of sorts to "Them Thar Hills". So now I'll have to search that one out to round out the experience.

When I watch anything with Stan and Ollie in it today, I have to marvel at just what a pair of comic geniuses they were. As a kid, I always preferred Abbott and Costello, but I realize now that that with A&C, they did funny things, but Laurel and Hardy did things funny. As an example, just check out the timing involved whenever they leave Hall's grocery store and eat one of his cookies. They start out very simply and wind up after three or four tries in an increasingly complex choreography that's just brilliant to watch.

There's also the misdirection with the pilfering customer in Stan and Ollie's electrical supply store, who starts out on foot and winds up hauling the entire store away in a moving van. With the boys none the wiser, they carry on their feud with Hall in an escalating series of comic encounters. And how about Ollie getting away with that line to Hall's wife coming down the stairs from the bedroom - "I've never been in a position like that before". I would never have picked up on that double entendre as a kid, but boy oh boy, it was right out there in plain sight for the alert viewer to pick up on and and go 'huh?'.

In any event, just about any Laurel and Hardy short offers as much entertainment as anyone else's full length feature, so taking in three or four at a time can only quadruple your fun. And by the way, why is it you never hear about alum any more?

This short was nominated for the Academy Award for Live Action Short (Comedy), losing to Robert Benchley's How To Sleep. There will be spoilers ahead:

This short is a sequel to Them Thar Hills but can be watched without having seen that one. The short begins with Stan and Ollie opening an electronics store. This turns out to be an unwise move, because they are clearly not businessmen. There's a nice bit involving the beat cop and Stan creating a bit of friction there.

There's a grocer next door and the two go over to introduce themselves, not knowing that they'd already met them on vacation and that meeting did not go well. Neither does this one. It will get much worse.

Our heroes go back to their store and the running gag starts with a very persistent shoplifter who says "How d'ya do" as he robs them blind. Ollie decides to put more light-bulbs in their signage and winds up getting stuck outside the upstairs apartment over the grocer's and he comes down the steps with the grocer's wife, which burns up the grocer even more.

Thus begins a "war" of sorts, with the grocer and the boys basically destroying each other's stores, escalating each round until the beat cop finally forces a settlement. The boys return to their store-an empty storefront, because their shoplifter has backed up a truck and loaded everything up quite thoroughly. Out of business on the day you opened.

This short can be found on the Laurel and Hardy: The Essential Collection and is well worth getting. The collection is wonderful and so is the short. Recommended.

"Tit for Tat" is a 1935 black-and-white short film from the days where you could actually hear Laurel and Hardy's voices. The silent era was long gone and this was actually one of the last short films from the duo. This one was Oscar-nominated and was made after "The Music Box", which even won the Award. The was one thing that Stan and Ollie had over the likes of Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton, but this was also really only because they did not transition really into the era of non-silent films.

Anyway, this film here runs for almost 20 minutes and the two own a store. Sadly, another store owner suspects Ollie of having a relationship with his wife and so mayhem ensues and the two go against each other all the time. Rogers, Busch and Hall have worked on several films of the two, so quite a few familiar faces in here. I find Laurel as funny as Ollie, probably more, so it sucked a bit that he was only a spectator here most of the time. His look at Ollie's broken hat was priceless though, maybe the best thing about this film. Other than that, I was not too well entertained though, so all in all I think there are better films out there with the two. Not recommended.

An alleged improper meeting between electrical store owner and flirtatious grocers wife Mae Busch results in unfounded jealousy from her husband, Charlie Hall, who seeks revenge against Oliver and his partner, Mr. Laurel. At the rate they go, neither store will be standing after this 20 minute short is over. It's always amusing to see adults acting more like children than children, using products from both stores as props in their revenge against each other. While she has more to do than the recent shorts in the series, it's obvious that producer Hal Roach was out to lighten her image. Hall makes an amusing foil, too foolish to be a real heavy, and thus not a hissable villain. Nice light funny later entry of Laurel and Hardy shorts.

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. Ollie and Stan have just opened a new Electrical Supplies store, and feeling friendly they decide to say "hello" to the business next door, at Hall's Grocery. They were not expecting to see Mr. and Mrs. Hall (Charlie Hall, Mae Busch) again (remember them from Them Thar Hills), and he warns them to stay away from them. Unfortunately an argument begins when Ollie ends up on the Halls' window sill (because of the basement elevator), having to go down their stairs, and Mr. Hall thinks he was doing something with her. So the rest of the film sees Hall going into Ollie and Stan to do something to them, and them doing vice versa, and while the two boys leave their electrical store, it is slowly being cleared out. So Ollie, Stan and Hall are throwing things at each other, covering each other in things, breaking things and much more silly and childish, but utterly funny things. Filled with wonderful slapstick and all classic comedy you could want from a black and white film, it is an enjoyable film. It was nominated the Oscar for for Best Short Subject, Comedy. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Very good!