The Music Box (1932)

User Rating:

8.3/10   

Director:

James Parrott

Writer:

H.M. Walker (dialogue)

Release Date:

16 April 1932 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Short

Tagline:

Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy decided to reorganize and resupervise their entire financial structure- so they took the $3.80 and went into business.

Plot:

Like the legendary Sisyphus, deliverymen Laurel and Hardy struggle to push a large crated piano up a seemingly insurmountable flight of stairs.

Plot Keywords:

Piano | Stairs | Player Piano | Professor | Birthday Present

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 1 win

Cast

Stan Laurel	...	Stan
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie

Runtime:

29 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

Australia:G | UK:U | USA:Approved | USA:Passed (National Board of Review) | USA:TV-G (TV rating)

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Hal Roach Studios - 8822 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company:

Hal Roach Studios

Trivia:

These are the same steps that were used by The Three Stooges in their two-reeler An Ache in Every Stake (1941), directed by Charley Chase.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: In the scenes where Oliver Hardy first falls in the water fountain and when Stan Laurel falls down into the fountain from the second floor, water marks are clearly visible on the walls caused from splashes during previous takes.

Quotes:

Stan: Say listen, don't you think you're bounding over your step?
Policeman: What do you mean bounding over my step?
Ollie: Why, he means overstepping your bounds.
Policeman: Oh.
[hits Stan on head with his baton]
Policeman: Now let that be a lesson to you!
[pokes him in the stomach]
Stan: Ooh!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Wizards of Waverly Place: Justin's New Girlfriend (#2.21)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

(I Wish I Was in) Dixie's Land

The Best of the Best of the Best

L&H are without doubt the best comedy double act of all time regardless of media format. Its amazing that their best movies are now 70 years old and yet remain timeless in their humour and inventiveness.

I've had the pleasure of seeing most of their movies - shorts & full format - and all of them have their own individual quirky qualities that other comedians still can't fathom.

The Music Box won them a well-deserved Oscar and although it is an excellently choreographed movie I personally don't think its their very best.

However, my opinion doesn't matter because any L&H fan will regard this movie as their favourite. The story is so simple yet so inventive and full of kinetic & emotive energy.

Stan & Ollie have to deliver a Piano to a highly strung guy who can't stand pianos. But just to make life a little interesting the guy's home just happens to be perched on a hill with the longest flight of steps in history to whit S&O have to push & pull their awkward delivery.

Some of the gags we've seen many times before but it doesn't matter because the added sparkle derives from the human emotions & expressions delivered with such panache from Stan & the long suffering Ollie - the way he looks-to-camera in a pleading kind of way just drives me wild with laughter & sympathy.

I can't find a single fault with this movie short, except that it just flies by so quickly. How I wish today's contemporary comedy writers could spend a few hours in a dark room watching how the masters of comedy produce such wonderful scripts. It proves that there is no need to have cheap & vulgar language, innuendo & explicit violence to make any audience, young or old, laugh with mirth.

The Golden Age of comedy is dead, long live the Golden Age; long live Laurel & Hardy!!!

*****/*****