George Burns used to mourn the death of vaudeville, saying "There's no place for a kid to be bad anymore." No place for him to learn his craft. Well, Stan Laurel knew how to be a silent clown: anyone who came out of Fred Karno's troupe knew that. But here, though, he is busy ringing the changes on bad film comedy. When he had done everything poorly, what was left was Mr. Laurel.
At this point, Hal Roach was looking for more film comedians: all he had was Harold Lloyd's series and a graduate of Fred Karno's troupe seemed just the thing. Unhappily, there isn't much to this one, in which Stan plays a badly-dressed janitor in a building where various subplots are busy going on. There aren't even good titles -- that would have to wait for the arrival of H.M. Walker the following decade. For the moment, we are treated to such witticisms as "Toby owns his own vacuum cleaner. He bought it on the installment plan and is still stalling." For fanatics of Stan Laurel only.
At this point, Hal Roach was looking for more film comedians: all he had was Harold Lloyd's series and a graduate of Fred Karno's troupe seemed just the thing. Unhappily, there isn't much to this one, in which Stan plays a badly-dressed janitor in a building where various subplots are busy going on. There aren't even good titles -- that would have to wait for the arrival of H.M. Walker the following decade. For the moment, we are treated to such witticisms as "Toby owns his own vacuum cleaner. He bought it on the installment plan and is still stalling." For fanatics of Stan Laurel only.