weezeralfalfa Review of County Hospital

County Hospital (1932)

Laurel as an unwanted guest in Hardy's hospital room

[7/10 · 27 September 2018]

The teaming of Laurel and Hardy as opposed to Billy Gilbert usually insures plenty of laughs ,and this comedy short is no exception. We can conveniently divide this film into 3 sections: 1) Laurel's adventures parking and hunting for Hardy's room. 2) Laurel and Hardy, along with Billy Gilbert, in Hardy's hospital room. 3) The wild ride home......The show starts off with a bang!, as Laurel's car lets loose a mega backfire that lifts the rear portion well off the pavement. Laurel's search for Hardy is hampered by the fact that each of the 3 floors has a room 14, which he wasn't told about. Also, he doesn't know what a solarium is. When he stops by the water fountain , it shoots up like Old Faithful. When Laurel knock's on Hardy's door and tells who it is, a look of resignation comes over Hardy's face. He was hoping his stay in the hospital for his presumed broken leg would afford him a vacation from Laurel. Laurel brings some hard boiled eggs and nuts for a present. Hardy turns up his nose at them, expecting a box of chocolates. Thus, Laurel takes out an egg, and accidentally drops it in Hardy's pitcher of water. It takes him a while to try to figure out how to remove it, then knocks the pitcher over, so it soaks the edge of the bed....... After eating an egg himself, Dr. Billy Gilbert arrives to check on Hardy's leg. Laurel then discovers the weight that's holding Hardy's leg up in traction. Now, comes one of the funniest gags you will ever see on film. Laurel picks up the weight, causing Hardy's leg to crash down on Gilbert's head. Gilbert angrily goes over and grabs the weight from Laurel. But, his momentum takes him and the weight out the window, where he hangs onto the rope. Meanwhile, this additional weight causes Hardy's leg to be lifted vertically, so his foot is near the ceiling. With Hardy screaming, Laurel tries to pull up Gilbert, then switches to trying to help Hardy. He goes back and forth a few times, until the rope wears thin and breaks. Fortunately, Gilbert is clinging to the window sill, but Hardy crashes onto the bed, causing the one end to collapse. Nurses arrive, as Laurel is still trying to pull Gilbert up. After Gilbert makes it back, he screams at Hardy to put his clothes on, and get out of the hospital.......Laurel gets out what he thinks is Hardy's pants, and cuts off the right(correct) leg to allow it to fit over Hardy's bulbous bandaged foot. (It's a wonder he didn't cut off the wrong leg!), Hardy's roommate now comes in, laughing giddily, because he's going home. He gets out his pants and discovers they are Hardy's!. He laughs.......Now, Laurel sits on a chair bearing a hypodermic needle, which self-injects into his buttock. The nurse laughs, saying he will probably sleep for a week. Time to drive Hardy home. Already, Laurel is getting sleepy. On the way home, he's barely conscious, weaving in and out of traffic. Unfortunately, this is a poorly done back-projected sequence, if exciting. Finally, his car is squashed between 2 trollies, twisting it into an L shape that can only travel in circles. Remarkably, the passangers and car sustained little or no other damage......See it at YouTube. The copy I saw was colorized!