That's what I saw on TCM last night.
The question asked in the title wasn’t really answered, but at least this was pretty funny. On Turner Classic Movies late last night when they play a silent movie or a series of shorts from (generally) about midnight to 2 AM, several 20 or so minute length programs were played starring Laurel & Hardy. I saw the first two they ran so that’s why I decided to put up this review a little earlier than usual for a weeknight and in a rare double-header for me, the next review will be up either late tonight or REAL late tonight, depending on what I decide to do in the evening.
Both shorts last night were easy watches; they were pretty funny 20 plus minute watches each. Detectives had a simple premise: a judge sentences a mean-looking criminal to prison, and the criminal threatens to slit the throat of the judge! The heel soon escapes from prison and the judge just about soils his pants at this news; two detectives are hired for protection but as they are Laurel & Hardy, said detectives are poor at their jobs; they also have the names Ferdinand Finkleberry and Sherlock Pinkham. Then again, when the judge has the name FOOZLE…
The villain disguises himself as a butler at the judge’s mansion and there are plenty of hijinks once our favorite duo arrives. Visual gags, pratfalls, mistaken identity, Laurel & Hardy being scared to walk through a cemetery even before they make it to the mansion, and more. William Tell was unexpected… even if it’s not the funniest short I’ve seen the duo in, there was no shame in viewing this last night.
Besides being a funny phrase, the “tootin’” in question revolves around music being played, not anything illicit. This begins with our favorite duo as two members of a small orchestra (or “a municipal band”, as I heard described elsewhere) who of course screw up often in a variety of ways and causing an increasingly harried conductor to grow more & more enraged. They get fired, which causes them to get kicked out of their boardinghouse, and they need to literally perform on the street to try and earn some moolah.
The laughs start right away with the calamity during the performance of a tune gone awry, and it continued when they walked around the city, seemingly being an instrument of chaos as they caused trouble wherever they went to. They are also pissed at each other due to their predicament. It culminates in an ending that’s on the non-sequitor side yet was still quite memorable-not to mention funny-as it involved many different men.
Today I realized that it seems like with this short (and probably other L&H shorts too) it is accompanied by music which either doesn’t exactly match up or it doesn’t match up at all and it’s just random music playing over whatever the hell’s on screen. You can see how that’s an issue in the first 6 minutes w/ that municipal band… thank goodness what played on Turner Classic Movies featured a score exclusive to the channel that was a perfect match.
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