Blotto (1930)

Laurel and Hardy spend the first half of this film trying to get Laurel from under the watchful eye of his shrewish wife (the beautiful Anita Garvin who perfects the sour disposition of her character) who has forbidden him to leave for the night, but pretending to accept his excuse for an emergency when he does. The second half of the film surrounds her revenge when they succeed, which isn't pretty. Violent but often hysterically funny, this near three reeler shows how the woman who wears the pants in a rather dysfunctional family can get even with lying husbands. It's one of several of their films (shorts or features) which shows the woman in an unfavorable light, but in this age of pre-code comedy, it was all in fun. This has a cartoonish feel to it with the funny but one dimensional wife really stealing the show with her vampish look but evil demeanor. The ending gag doesn't really give a conclusion, but it is a classic.

I second an earlier poster who wishes "Blotto" was available here in the U.S. I've been longing to see this movie for years because I understand there's a scene where the boys smash hundreds of pieces of glassware. Oddly enough this type of glass, known as Ruba Rombic and made by the now-defunct Consolidated Glass Co. in Penna., is highly collectible and worth a fortune these days. It was pretty avant garde in its day, borrowing its design from cubism.Anyway, if someone knows where to obtain "Blotto" on VHS, please post. It is a testament to the comic skills of Laurel and Hardy that they can make almost any story or situation, no matter how slight, really funny.

Very descriptive - spoiler warning therefore.Laurel & Hardy are about to sneak into Jazz Club with a bottle they have planned to steal from Stan's wife. As usual, women are more intelligent than men and Stan's wife empties the bottle and pours into it some cold tea mixed with spices. Ollie and Stan think they're clever when they manage to steal the bottle. It may be a little surprise that they also get drunk with that, at least Stan's ears swing.It is no wonder that the pathetic evening ends in a full reprisal. The end culminates in a fantastic crash when Stan's wife fires a shotgun at the car, which breaks down like a house with its driver still holding the wheel and sitting in the middle of junk pile. That's realism with a flavour of absurdity.

Oliver and Stan steal a bottle of booze from Stan`s wife and depart to a speak easy .There that`s the plot . No seriously that`s the entire plot and it should have been awful but I spent most of the film with an amused grin on my face because it`s a show case for the infectious mirth making slapstick of the greatest comedy duo who ever lived or will ever live . There`s no reason why anyone should laugh at Stan passing a bottle to Oliver , or Stan putting an ice bucket on his head but I laughed out loud . Imagine if Jim Carrey and Chris Rock made a film where they bought some crack and decided to smoke it at an illegal drugs den ? It`s with a premise like that you really do appreciate the talents of Laurel and Hardy