Customer Reviews

Laurel & Hardy: Wrong Again [VHS]

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Although this 2 reeler is considered by many as one of the "lesser" efforts of Laurel and Hardy, I personally like the entire premise. One of their better "mistaken identity" films, the plot revolves around the missing portrait Blue Boy. Unfortunately, the ever helpful boys mistake a horse by the same name as the missing item. When they attempt to return it to the owner, the fun really begins. Watch for the classic "Put it on top of the piano" sequence. A laugh riot, remember this is a silent film, but one that will keep you in stitches.

This short finds Stan and Ollie as hapless stable boys who are doing their job with the usual incompetence when they hear that the valuable Blue Boy has been stolen. They resolve to be the ones to bring him back and claim the reward, since they know that Blue Boy is the name of one of the horses at the stable. The millionaire whose mansion they arrive at throws them down a key and tells them to take Blue Boy inside. He can't come down in person because he's in the middle of a bath. At first Stan questions the wisdom of this, but Ollie tells him that what the man says goes. Both are baffled when the millionaire tells them to put Blue Boy on the piano and says that he's always up there, but resolve to get down to it right away. This illustrates their childlike innocence; at first they question a seemingly bizarre request, but ultimately go about it with utmost seriousness. There is also a racy (for the time) sight gag when Ollie falls on top of a nude female statue and breaks it, putting it back together again with the middle piece facing in the wrong direction. Being the gentleman he is, Ollie puts his jacket over the middle section as he picks it up and puts it back where he thinks it belongs, but since he obviously can't see which side is which, it goes on wrong. He doesn't think he did this; he explains to Stan that the statue looks that way because millionaires are eccentric and twisted, not like other people, and do things in odd ways.

However, the police discovered the real Blue Boy before the horse came to the mansion, and deliver it to the mansion after the horse has finally been put on top of the piano. The millionaire's mother has also arrived with the police, and is shocked and flabbergasted to see the horse emerge from behind the curtain. Furious, the owner takes off after Stan, Ollie, and the horse, but ends up shooting a policeman instead. There are a number of funny gags and titlecards, and though I wouldn't consider this one of their strongest or funniest, I would say it's one of their strongest second-tier silents.

A priceless painting (Blue Boy) has been stolen and a reward offered. L&H hear of this and believe they know where Blue Boy is.
Trouble is the Blue Boy they recover is not a painting, but a horse. And there is pure comic madness when they try to return
Blue Boy to the rightful owner.