THE FINISHING TOUCH (1932) was a two-reel comedy short made by a bunch of Hal Roach refugees after they were all fired from the Roach lot in a cost-cutting measure during the Depression. Even the director George Stevens and producer Warren Doane were from Roach. Skeets Gallagher lives in an apartment with his wife and mother-in-law. His wife has prepared a cake to celebrate their one-year wedding anniversary, but he has totally forgotten about it. After an argument, she and her mother leave for the train station to ride to Reno, Nevada and get a divorce. Skeets doesn't have enough money for a train ticket to stop them, so he sub-lets the apartment to Bert Roach. He misses the last train to Reno and comes home to find a wild party with lots of women and bootleg liquor at his former apartment. He throws the bunch out, but Yola d'Avril is accidentally knocked out and she falls behind the couch, hidden. His wife has a change of heart and returns home, so Skeets must hastily cleanup the place. Meanwhile two dim-witted policemen, Fred Kelsey and Tiny Sanford arrive due to the noise complaints. Skeets has a lot of explaining to do... This is a funny short from start to finish made by the best in the business.
