The original 1930 print of this Laurel and Hardy short feature opens with the screen scroll - "Mr. Laurel and Mister Hardy remained home to take care of the children....Their wives are gone out to target practice." This proves to be one of the most humorous segments of the comic pair's highly popular two-reeler wherein they play dual roles, as themselves and as young miniatures Stan Jr. and Oliver Jr., the latter two dwarfed by cleverly constructed oversize sets. In spite of excellent sound quality for the period and an artfully sung lullaby by Hardy, the piece is overly reliant upon trite sight gags that are merely unimaginative slapstick. Although we do not see the wives, a framed photograph of Jean Harlow is upon the mantle, a wittily incongruous hint that she may be one of the absent spouses. Elsewise, this is a gimmick propelled movie, and although one will risk incurring the displeasure of the duo's legion of rabid fans by saying so, the fact remains supreme that when a viewer is consistently aware of what is about to happen before the characters do, any intended interest in them tends to flag.
