Habeas Corpus (1928)

Directors:

Leo McCarey
James Parrott

Writers:

Leo McCarey (writer)
H.M. Walker (writer)

Release Date:

1 December 1928 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Plot:

Loony scientist (Carle) hires Laurel and Hardy to raid the cemetery to keep him supplied with dead bodies for his experiments. |

Plot Keywords:

Cemetery | Two Reeler

Cast

Stan Laurel	...	Stan
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie
Richard Carle	...	Professor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Charles A. Bachman	...	Ledoux
Charley Rogers	...	Butler

Runtime:

USA:20 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (music and effects) | Silent

Certification:

Germany:o.Al. | UK:U

Filming Locations:

Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Trivia:

This was made as a silent film, then was retrofitted before release with a music track and sound effects. Unfortunately, the sound discs are long lost, but this is technically Laurel & Hardy's first 'sound' film.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Laurel und Hardy auf der Jagd nach dem Mammon (1973)

While far from funny, it's still worth a peek

This Laurel and Hardy silent film has a very, very slim plot--with almost the entire film taking place at a cemetery. The film begins with a truly balmy professor paying Stan and Ollie to do a bit of grave robbing (an odd plot idea, I know). So the greedy boys head to the grave yard and spend most of the film being scared out of their wits over a drunk who has gotten wrapped up in a sheet. While this is all very contrived, the worst part of this is that it took Stan and Ollie almost half the film to figure a way into the cemetery. Some of this was very funny (such as when Ollie finally tried climbing the wall), but most of it was just tedious and overplayed. While this is far from funny and lacking the number of laughs of most of their shorts, the film is still worth a peek because even when sub-par, the team can still be very funny.