They Go Boom! (1929)

Laurel and Hardy made a ton of comedy shorts so it was inevitable that they'd have a few disappointments. While this film is watchable and mildly amusing in spots, it is certainly not a very good film by their standards. The problem was the script. It was incredibly mundane and unexciting and was later remade in much funnier ways. For example, the same basic plot and landlord (Charlie Hall) return for LAUGHING GRAVY. It wasn't a huge improvement, but adding the dog and allowing some of the action to take place outside really helped to pick up the pace. But with THEY GO BOOM!, it's all contained in their small apartment and the entire movie revolves around two unfunny gags--Ollie overreacting after he gets a cold and Stan mucking up the attempts to alleviate Ollie's sneezing as well as a rather lame joke about over-inflating the air mattress. It's worth seeing, but there are so many better Laurel and Hardy films I recommend this one to devoted fans only.

Don't you just hate a bad cold? The viewer can sympathise with Ollie 100% with his case of the "sniffles", as Stan puts it. The poor guy's up at 3AM and can't stop sneezing. Done that, T-shirt long in the trashcan.What you don't want to do is ask Stan for help. Mustard bath cures -must NOT try that one! And don't you just know, at some point, that the picture with the cute homily "Keep Smiling" is going to wrap Ollie's skull? In truth this isn't one of their better films. It has it's moments, but by and large the gags don't quite come off. Stan and Oliver on a sniffle day, if you like. Never the less it's worth watching, possibly best seen when the demon virus has yourself in it's grip.

Laurel and Hardy are simply trying to get a good nice sleep but Mr Hardy has a really bad case of the sniffles and can't get off easily. Laurel just wants to help and tries various remedies including a bath of hot water, a mustard plaster and a water bed. But try as he might things don't seem to be getting any better for Hardy.A oft repeated theme is used to good effect here – Laurel is simply trying to help Hardy but yet he only manages to make things worse in one way or another. In this film Hardy is a little full of the cold so Laurel tries to help. The routines are pretty funny – my favourite gags are the little running ones rather than the bigger set ups. So, for example, I loved the bath of water constantly getting in the way or the fat that Hardy kept getting hit in the head. The self contained nature of the film and the fact that the plot isn't something that needs a great deal of setting up works in it's favour.Laurel does well in his wide eyed innocent role but as always Hardy has to carry the majority of the prat falls and does it very well indeed. The support cast have a very small contribution to make and it shows their class that Laurel and Hardy carry almost 100% of the screen time here.Overall an enjoyable little short that is self contained and all the better for it.

Laurel and Hardy's better shorts are priceless and timeless, but I'm afraid this isn't one of them. Their "don't annoy the landlord" routine was put to much better use in the classic Laughing Gravy.