Busy Bodies

1933
S
19m

IMDb RATING

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Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Busy Bodies (1933)

Stan and Ollie do battle with inanimate objects, their co-workers, and the laws of physics during a routine work day at the sawmill.Stan and Ollie do battle with inanimate objects, their co-workers, and the laws of physics during a routine work day at the sawmill.Stan and Ollie do battle with inanimate objects, their co-workers, and the laws of physics during a routine work day at the sawmill.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.6/10

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Photos43

Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, and Tiny Sandford in Busy Bodies (1933)

Cast7

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Stan Laurel

Stan

Oliver Hardy

Ollie

Dick Gilbert

Shoveler
(uncredited)

Charlie Hall

Shop Worker
(uncredited)

Jack Hill

Shop Worker
(uncredited)

Tiny Sandford

Shop Foreman
(uncredited)

Charley Young

Shop Worker
(uncredited)

Director
- Lloyd French
Writers
- Charlie Hall(uncredited)
- Oliver Hardy(uncredited)
- Stan Laurel(uncredited)
All cast & crew
Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

Storyline

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Did you know

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Trivia
The final gag has Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy accidentally driving their Model T through an industrial band saw; the blade passes between them and cuts their vehicle in half. Laurel & Hardy biographer Charles Barr claimed the comedians were nearly killed filming this scene, but Roach Studios special-effects director Roy Seawright asserted that they were never in danger. "That gag was a collaboration between Fred Knoth's mechanical department and my photographic department," Seawright said. "It was done with a traveling matte, a traveling split-screen. We had one half go through first, and then we introduced the other half. So, ultimately, it was accomplished on an optical printer."

Goofs
When Hardy yanks at the hose connected to the sink, he is wet. When he comes out of the sawdust chute, there isn't ANY sawdust stuck to him.

Quotes
Ollie: Would you mind opening the window?
[watching in disgust as Stan goes and opens the shop window behind him]
Ollie: Not THAT window - THIS window!
[seeing Stan pull out a large sheet of heavy paper and study it carefully]
Ollie: What are you doing?
Stan: Well, I was looking at the blueprint to try to figure out how to open the window.
Ollie: Why, that's a blueprint of the BOULDER DAM!

Alternate versions
There is an Italian edition of this film on DVD, distributed by DNA Srl ("NON ANDIAMO A LAVORARE", Various Shorts on a single DVD). The film has been re-edited with the contribution of film historian Riccardo Cusin. This version is also available for streaming on some platforms.

Connections
Edited into Dance of the Cookoos (1982)

Soundtracks
Ku-Ku
(1928) (uncredited
Written by Marvin Hatley
Played during the opening credits

User reviews40

Review

Featured review

8/10

"You dirty double-crossers!"

While not as infamous as The Music Box, I feel certain that this must be one of Laurel and Hardy's best-remembered shorts. Lasting just under 20 minutes, it's arguably their most physical work, with an almost non-stop array of sight gags.

A benefit of a Laurel and Hardy season on television is it gives you insight into characteristics that you'd forgotten. For instance, I never remembered Stan as being a grass, but he's always stitching people up (Pardon Us, Pack Up Your Troubles, et al) and here he gets a man thrown out for smoking. Stan's fight with the same man is the most hilarious moment of the eleven films screened during a Christmas season, but then this one is packed with many laugh-out-loud moments. That a film that is over seventy five years old can still produce such amusement is astonishing, but the duo are extremely good at what they do, and here at the top of their game. I won't give away the rest, but suffice it to say that Ollie's struggle with a sink and their car's clash with a sawmill is two of the funniest things I've seen in ages.

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