Review of You're Darn Tootin' (1928) by Greg W — 13 Jun 2011

An archetypal L&H short, if nowhere near as funny as its towering reputation would suggest. That rep rests on two specific sequences: the opening orchestra disaster (with Ollie on French horn and Stan on clarinet), which is certainly grander than much of what was to follow in the stars' work - apparently shot in an actual concert hall, in front of an uproarious audience - but proves a little underpowered in its business, reliant on Ollie getting his fingers repeatedly trampled on; and the final descent into mass shin-kicking and trouserlessness, which again is fairly basic business, but shows the advantages to be gained from running with a particular idea - and also serves as a persuasive image of how the comedians' brand of idiocy might just catch on.

True, you could show this to anybody who'd never seen a Laurel & Hardy movie, and they'd grasp immediately where this pair were coming from - but there was more sophisticated work ahead of them.