Customer Reviews

Laurel & Hardy:Berth Marks [VHS]

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"Berth Marks" (1929) finds Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy adapting their silent slapstick to the early talkie format. The opening sequence at the train station is a self-contained gem that utilizes sound to creative effect. However, when Stan and Ollie get on board the last train to Pottsville, the physical humor becomes increasingly awkward and repetitive. One of the team's weakest two-reelers.

"Berth Marks" is one of Laurel & Hardy's earliest sound films. The cast and crew had not yet perfected the talkie format, so the pacing is awkward and the ad-libbed dialogue is repetitive. The first few minutes are amusing, with Stan and Ollie hurriedly trying to board a train, but the rest of the film is slow and tentative, as the boys try to get settled in their berth. (The feature "The Big Noise" uses the same routine to better effect.) Below average for the team, but the colorization is excellent and adds some novelty value for L & H completists. Casual fans should try another L & H comedy first.

Yes, the earliness of 'Berth Marks' is its salient trait. But what could be funnier than the line delivered by the train conductor, when told the boys are a 'big-time vaudeville act' going to Pottsville: "Well, I'll bet yer GOOD," as they look uncomprehending. Granted the assorted contortions in the upper berth go on too long. But in the final scene, when Ollie lobs a stone at the fleeing Stan (for having left their fiddle behind on the now-departed train) and clunks him, and Stan picks up a stone to lob back then thinks better of it, we have vintage L&H. It's a personal favorite of mine, not least for the bouncy musical score...but it IS different, because it is EARLY!