Excellent but underrated film

Did you people see the same film I saw?

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were comedic geniuses, individually and together, and their partnership was deservedly iconic and one of the best there was. They left behind a large body of work, a vast majority of it being entertaining to classic comedy, at their best they were hilarious and their best efforts were great examples of how to do comedy without being juvenile or distasteful.While not classic Laurel and Hardy, later films, short and feature, had stronger chemistry when fully formed and used their considerable talents better, 'Leave Em Laughing' is a lot of fun. Before, Laurel was much funnier and more interesting while Hardy in most of the previous outings had too little to do. 'Leave Em Laughing' is one of their first very good efforts, to me it's easily one of their best at this point of their careers and one of the first to feel like a Laurel and Hardy short rather than a short featuring them.'Leave Em Laughing' does take a little too long to get going, coming to life when at the dentist. Also found that the ending went on longer than it should have done.Laurel however is very funny, and sometimes hilarious. It is wonderful seeing Hardy having more to do and he is on Laurel's level and actually even funnier. The chemistry is certainly much more here than in previous outings of theirs, namely because there's more of them together and it was starting to feel like a partnership. Support is nice. A good deal of the humour, particularly when at the dentist and the effects of the laughing gas, is well timed, hugely energetic and very funny (hilarious at its best), with everything going at a lively pace and there is a lot of charm and good nature to keep one going. 'Leave Em Laughing' looks quite good still.In summary, a lot of fun. 8/10 Bethany Cox

This was another Laurel & Hardy short I watched on Hulu as linked from IMDb. In this one, Stanley has a toothache that's bothering bed mate Ollie so he tries various ways to get rid of it to no results. So they go to the dentist but this one is not the best in health care since the patients keep running away! I'll stop there and just say that this was quite funny almost to the end but when the laughing gas effect comes in and they run into cop Edgar Kennedy, the scene is maybe milked a little too long but it at least leads to a hilarious ending. Oh, and Charlie Hall also has a good bit as the landlord. So on that note, Leave 'Em Laughing mostly lives up to its title.

Leave 'Em Laughing (1928) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Laurel is suffering from a toothache so Hardy takes him to the dentist who accidentally fills them with laughing gas. The early gags of Hardy trying to pull the tooth are funny but the ending with the cars goes on a bit too long and gets rather tiresome.They Go Boom! (1929) *** (out of 4) Hardy has a cold so it's up to Laurel to try and find a cure so that they can get a good night's sleep. Highlights include the mustard bath and the exploding mattress.One Good Turn (1931) ** 1/2 (out of 4)L&H set out to raise $100 when they overhear an elderly woman say she's going to be evicted. Not too many laughs in this one outside the opening sequence in the woods. Thicker Than Water (1935) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Laurel and Hardy waste $300 on a grandfather clock so Hardy's wife hits him with a frying pan and sends him to the hospital. Again, not too funny and the worst part is the ending where the two change personalities. This here should have been a lot funnier than it turned out.

The final shot of this Laurel & Hardy two-reeler has been excerpted and used in several silent comedy compilations: Stan and Ollie laugh uproariously in their car as bemused cop Edgar Kennedy glares at them . . . while in the meantime, the car and all three occupants sink into a deep, dirty mud hole. That shot neatly captures the antic spirit of silent comedy. Leave 'Em Laughing itself is an early L&H comedy, made while they were still finding their style, but there are several funny moments en route to that memorably muddy finale.The film consists of three sequences: 1) the boys in their apartment, contending with Stan's toothache and angry landlord Charlie Hall; 2) a trip to the dentist's office, where they are overcome with laughing gas; and 3) the finale, as they try to deal with traffic -- and Officer Kennedy -- while helpless with laughter. I like the third part best, myself, but perhaps that's because I'm discomfited by the tooth pain element of the earlier scenes. In watching the film again recently I notice gags in the first two sequences that are rather cartoon-y, and not in keeping with what the guys would do in their prime. For instance: early on, Stan has a handkerchief around his jaw, tied in two knots atop his head like rabbit ears, and at one point the pain he feels is indicated by the "ears" twisting themselves in circles. Similarly, in the dentist's waiting room, surprise is indicated through Stan's hat flying up into the air. This kind of shtick seems more typical of the Mack Sennett Studio, whereas the best comedians on the Hal Roach lot (L&H, Our Gang, Charley Chase, etc.) tended to favor a more naturalistic style with less straining for laughs. It's interesting to compare these gags to the later 'Magic Stan' bits, such as the hat-eating in Way Out West or the thumb-smoking in Block-Heads; those routines are certainly unreal, but they feel intrinsic to Stan's oddness and somehow perfectly natural, not standard shtick which any other comic could do, like the rabbit ear hankie or the flying hat bit.At any rate, the finale is great fun. I once saw this film at a museum screening, and despite the lack of sound the boys' unstoppable laughter during the final sequence succeeded in getting the audience going, too. That could also be a matter of context: Stan and Ollie are creating a traffic jam, but instead of reacting fearfully they're laughing in the face of the unsmiling cop who doggedly tries to make them follow the rules. It's a rare sequence where Stan and Ollie are openly subversive and don't give a damn about the consequences, and it's downright liberating.