Reviews
Liberty (1929)
Laurel & Hardy Visit Harold Lloyd Territory
Laurel and Hardy escape from jail and end up wearing each other's trousers. The hilarious sequence of failed attempts to change back was intended for their previous film "We Faw Down" but was removed when that film proved too long. They finally manage to change trousers, first with Stan then Ollie having a live crab within the seat of the pants, and end up on a high building in real Harold Lloyd territory. Perhaps not as well paced as the best of Lloyd but still extremely funny. Up among the best of their silent two reelers.
Windbag the Sailor (1936)
Fieldsian Character with a Keatonesque Plot
Will Hay appears, not as a schoolmaster this time, but as an incompetent sea captain. However his character is, as usual, one of seedy incompetence, with few redeeming features,for whom one nevertheless roots, with touches of W.C. Fields (not that I am accusing Hay of plagiarism.) The plot, however, has touches of Buster Keaton's "The Navigator." Marriot and Moffat, in their first film with Hay, provide excellent comic support. By no means Hay's best film but well worth watching.
It's a Gift (1923)
Snub Pollard's most inventive film
This is the most inventive that I have seen of Snub Pollard's solo films (he often appeared in early Harold Lloyd one and two reelers.) Snub plays an inventor who has discovered a gasoline substitute which he is called upon to demonstrate. The first part of the film consists of his awakening, breakfasting and dressing with the aid of many labour-saving inventions, reminiscent of some of Buster Keaton's work. He then travels by "Magnet Car", a bullet shaped single-seater powered by a huge hand-held horseshoe magnet which Snub uses to attract other cars going his way. A number of funny mishaps occur. Finally the gas substitute causes a number of automobiles to crash and explode and the inventor escapes by causing his magnet car to sprout wings and take to the air. Not a masterpiece, but an amusing and inventive comedy, well worth seeing.
Down Among the Z Men (1952)
A waste of good talent
I once had the pleasure of meeting Michael Bentine and we discussed this film. Michael told me that the director would only allow one take of each scene unless an absolute disaster occurred. There is one scene near the end that is quite funny. Two or three other members of the cast disguise themselves as Michael Bentine and many confusions occur, probably inspired by the mirror scene in the Marx Brothers film Duck Soup.
My Learned Friend (1943)
One of Will Hay's best
This was Will Hay's last film and showed a change of direction in that it was a venture into black comedy. Claude Hulbert makes an excellent comic foil and Mervyn Johns is also suitably sinister as a serial murderer. There is a venture into Harold Lloyd territory with Hay and Hulbert clinging to the clock face of Big Ben. Watch out for Ernest Thesiger in a bit part.