Charming and brutal

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties.

It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.

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. At a performing circus, all the acts are entering the arena, including the big attraction, Ethel the Human Chimpanzee, while Stan and Ollie are just helping Destructo The Cannonball King (Tiny Sandford) with his act. After the boys collapse the arena tent with an early lighting of the cannon, the Circus Owner (William J. O'Brien) says he is broke, and to pay the circus staff, he is giving them a valuable part of the show to look after. Pulling the names out of a hat, Ollie ends up looking after Ethel, and Stan is looking after the flea circus, but it seems only Stan can get Ethel to do what she is told, she gets mad with Ollie telling her what to do. Trying to get Ethel tied up into a crate, Stan manages to get the lion, MGM, chasing after them, and after it looks like they got away, the find a hotel room to stay the night, until they can sell Ethel to a zoo. Joe the Landlord (Billy Gilbert) isn't happy with the boys bringing in a monkey to a room, so after avoiding the lion once again, they disguise her in Ollie's clothes to sneak her inside, and then Stan would chuck down his clothes. Unfortunately, tossing the clothes Stan and Ethel fall out the window, so they lock her in a near large box, without realising a side is missing. The boys are sleeping in the double bed, until Stan moves to a single, and Ethel manages to sneak into the room and make Ollie think he is still sleeping with a fidgeting Stan. After waking and making Ethel move to the cloak room, Ollie joins Stan in his bed, where they start itching, and realise the flea circus has escaped. In another room, a man puts on his record player, playing some piano music, and Ethel in her tutu starts doing some ballet dancing, getting Stan to join her. Joe manages to hear the boys shouting the name "Ethel", and he thinks they are shouting the name of his wife, so he goes to get her. Joe soon sees his real wife (Martha Sleeper) come in, and she screams and runs seeing their Ethel, and when Joe shouts for them to get out, the monkey steals his gun, and the film ends with her shooting all over the place. Also starring James Finlayson as Ringmaster. Filled with good slapstick and all classic comedy you want from a black and white film, it is an enjoyable film. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Worth watching!

Only true Laurel and Hardy addicts will appreciate this sub-standard short that has the boys doing their best to demolish a circus tent with explosive gun powder, after which STAN LAUREL is given a flea circus for a parting gift, and OLIVER HARDY, a chimp called Ethyl.Naturally, when they decide to look for lodgings they get a hard time from landlord BILLY GILBERT who refuses to have them under his roof when he spies the chimp. Gilbert is already in a dither because his wife hasn't come home yet--his dear Ethyl.The rest of the short has the boys getting into one sticky situation after another, but the laughs are meager and the obvious use of a man inside an ape costume takes a lot away from the gags. Funniest line has Stan sighting a loose lion on the prowl and Oliver asking him what's the matter. "I've seen MGM," is his straight answer.But the slapstick happenings are not on par with the duo's best comedy shorts. This is strictly an early Laurel and Hardy featurette from Hal Roach that needed a much better script. At least BILLY GILBERT gets to do his customary energetic job as the irate husband who overhears Hardy telling the chimp, "Come to bed, Ethyl."Good potential material, but it should have been a lot funnier.

I love Laurel and Hardy movies, so keep this in mind before you read this mediocre review. Don't just assume I can't stand their movies! Stan and Ollie are stuck with taking care of a guy in a cheap ape costume--though in the movie, the ape is SUPPOSED to be real. Okay. Well, to me it just looks like a guy in a cheap ape costume and I HATE when movies put people in crappy ape costumes. It never looks real and the plots, as in this film, are really corny and impossible to believe. In this case, it's a female ape (it really does NOT look like an orangutan, chimp OR gorilla) and it is in love with Stanley. Not only is this extremely contrived, but it's really nasty as well.The final verdict--stick with Laurel and Hardy, not "Laurel and Hardy and guy in crappy ape costume".

The boys find themselves inheriting a chimp named Ethel in this classic comedy short that features a wonderful dance sequence with the chimp Ethel, wearing a tutu.