Despite its reputation and high rating here, "Them Thar Hills" falls a bit short on the laugh-meter, especially when compared to L&H's other work. The humor really is sparse in this one.
Plot in a Nutshell: Stan and Ollie retreat to the mountains for some R&R, but encounter an ornery motorist (Charlie Hall) who spoils their fun.
I am not kidding when I tell you it took a full seven minutes before I laughed for the first time. Needless to say, that's not good. The entire opening sequence with Dr. Billy Gilbert, while necessary to set the scene, didn't contain anything actually funny. Then you also have a scene where cops and moonshiners battle in a shootout - again, maybe necessary for the plot, but nothing funny here either. When you only have 20 minutes to play with in these two-reelers, this is a lot of wasted time.
Eventually it picked up some and gladly it had a few good moments, but none of them 'classic' and not enough for this to be considered among their best. Previous to this I watched the L&H short "Brats" and I rated that 9/10. Why? Because I laughed 24 times in 20 minutes - over a laugh a minute (yes, I actually counted)! For "Them Thar Hills?" - 7 laughs in 20 minutes. Do the math lol. This one just isn't that great despite what you might hear. I ask you to watch this and count how many times you laugh....I'm fairly certain it won't average once a minute.
I love these guys but there are so many other shorts better than this (Big Business, Music Box, Helpmates, Brats - to name a few) that I would watch multiple times before watching this again.
Times watched: 1. Would I watch again (Y/N)? Only in parts.
Plot in a Nutshell: Stan and Ollie retreat to the mountains for some R&R, but encounter an ornery motorist (Charlie Hall) who spoils their fun.
I am not kidding when I tell you it took a full seven minutes before I laughed for the first time. Needless to say, that's not good. The entire opening sequence with Dr. Billy Gilbert, while necessary to set the scene, didn't contain anything actually funny. Then you also have a scene where cops and moonshiners battle in a shootout - again, maybe necessary for the plot, but nothing funny here either. When you only have 20 minutes to play with in these two-reelers, this is a lot of wasted time.
Eventually it picked up some and gladly it had a few good moments, but none of them 'classic' and not enough for this to be considered among their best. Previous to this I watched the L&H short "Brats" and I rated that 9/10. Why? Because I laughed 24 times in 20 minutes - over a laugh a minute (yes, I actually counted)! For "Them Thar Hills?" - 7 laughs in 20 minutes. Do the math lol. This one just isn't that great despite what you might hear. I ask you to watch this and count how many times you laugh....I'm fairly certain it won't average once a minute.
I love these guys but there are so many other shorts better than this (Big Business, Music Box, Helpmates, Brats - to name a few) that I would watch multiple times before watching this again.
Times watched: 1. Would I watch again (Y/N)? Only in parts.