This isn't classic Laurel & Hardy by anyone's standards, but it's made watchable by the comedy talents of the duo and a couple of inspired moments. The boys play a pair of bums who stumble into the unoccupied house of a local millionaire when avoiding arrest by the police and then pose as owner and butler/maid when prospective tenants of the property come calling. The comedy here is a little too one-note once Lord Plumtree and his foxy new wife arrive, spending too much time focusing on Stan's switching between the characters of Hives the butler and Agnes the maid (Agnes, incidentally, would resurface in A Chump in Oxford). There is a laugh-out-loud moment when the boys become tangled up with a quartet of rattling window blinds as they try to evade capture by the police though, and a truly surreal finale which sees them inexplicably disguised as a pantomime cow (?) riding a bicycle to freedom. The film is also noticeable for coining the phrase 'Another fine mess,' which would incorrectly be attributed to Hardy by impressionists forever more. As all Laurel & Hardy aficionados know, what Ollie would testily exclaim to the tearful Stan was 'that's another NICE mess you've gotten me into'.
Review of Another Fine Mess
