The Finishing Touch (1928)

User Rating:

7.5/10   

Directors:

Clyde Bruckman
Leo McCarey

Writer:

H.M. Walker (titles)

Release Date:

25 February 1928 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

The boys are contracted to build a house in one day. Upon completion, a bird lands on the chimney and the house collapses...

Plot Keywords:

House | Bird | Nurse | Police Officer | Laurel And Hardy

Cast

Stan Laurel	...	Stan
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Dorothy Coburn	...	Nurse
Edgar Kennedy	...	Cop (as Ed Kennedy)
Sam Lufkin	...	Owner of the house

Runtime:

USA:19 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Silent

Certification:

Australia:G

Filming Locations:

Motor Avenue, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Trivia:

The final gag, in which the boys' truck slams into the house, was a misfire. The script called for the truck to drive all the way through the house, but the carpenters had not built the house to property man Thomas Benton Roberts' specifications, so the truck was unable to penetrate it completely. Rather than rebuild the house for one gag, the cast and crew chose to keep the end gag as filmed.

Goofs:

Crew or equipment visible: At the beginning of the film, a van is rolling downhill before being caught. As it stops a crew member is visible outside the cab on the driver's side, controlling the van.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Laurel and Hardy's Laughing 20's (1965)

One of the better Laurel and Hardy silent shorts

THE FINISHING TOUCH is a film typical of classic Laurel and Hardy films. There are many aspects of it that are seen in their other films. For instance, they boys are building a house and is very reminiscent of a few of their films such as BUSY BODIES and DIRTY WORK--all films where the team are trying to build or fix things and end up destroying everything around them. Additionally, at the end of the film, there is a big fight scene that sure brings to mind their BIG BUSINESS, TWO TARS and THE BATTLE OF THE CENTURY. Now all this familiarity isn't bad--especially when the films are as enjoyable and fun as all the ones I just listed.

Stan and Ollie are contracted to do the finishing work on a new house. However, since they are idiots, the tend to mostly break everything and hurt themselves in the process. In addition to Ollie getting the worst of many of these accidents, an innocent cop (Edgar Kennedy) gets banged around pretty badly as well--even though he was just an innocent bystander--a particularly even-tempered one at that. The film ends with the home being pretty much like you'd expect if Stan and Ollie had built it and there are many wonderful stunts at the end of the film.

Overall, it's a lot of fun and is one of the better silent shorts the team made.

By the way, watch the dump truck scene near the beginning. The truck dumps a load but only moments later the load magically vanishes due to poor editing and continuity. It doesn't ruin the film at all but I am surprised they didn't fix this mistake.