Just so...so bad

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is ultimately a movie about the very bad things that can happen when we don't address our unease, when we just try to brush it off, whether that's to fit in or to preserve our self-image.

For this short subject Hal Roach placed Laurel&Hardy as workers in a sawmill. Just knowing that conjures up in your mind all kinds of sharp cutting tools that given their propensity for trouble you know the boys will be lucky to escape serious injury. So will any and all of the other workers at the sawmill.In fact there is a minute or so of footage in this film where you see men at work doing some serious labor at a sawmill. Also Roach really didn't have them working circular saws or chainsaws. I guess he did not want kids trying these things out at home. You never see them really involved with any of the truly dangerous things.They do however have an interesting climax where poor Ollie do to as usual Stan's bumbling goes through an exhaust the mill has for all the sawdust accumulated. And right at the mouth you see him stuck.Not the best of their shorts, but seeing Ollie going through that exhaust was classic. Might very well have inspired Charlie Chaplin to do the bit with the Little Tramp caught in the machinery in Modern Times.

The short is bookended by lovely titles with a saw rolling across, gorgeous. Any comedy short is only as good as its set pieces, so I break them up thusly:* The car, with its special radio, is great and reminds me of a story I heard about John Lennon who apparently had a record player in his fancy car, but you can only use it when you're stopped for a picnic for example, not while you're driving.* The sawmill, with wood everywhere you walk. Belly laughs. * The boys fight quite a bit, in the way the Three Stooges became famous for later.* The window. Goes a bit long.* The chute. Incredible.* Sawing a (something) in half. Brilliant. This gag: 10/10A great first short to see from my new 21-disc set.8/10

One thing that puzzles me is how many of these L&H shorts feature absolutely no plot but I never seem to notice this because I`m too busy laughing . BUSY BODIES is set in a sawmill but that`s it , there`s no central plot , just a series of incidents which show the genius of Stan and Ollie .This is certainly one of the best shorts because it showcases the duo at their most typical , Ollie gets gets hit over the head by falling objects while Stan turns to the camera and shrugs . There`s also a fight scene that had me in stiches , okay I knew what the pay off was going to be as soon as Stan said " Cigar " but you`d need to be crippled by clinical depression not to surpress a smile at this A seventy year old black and white film with no plot and it made me laugh . I can`t think of a better compliment

This is probably the only movie that makes me cry of laughing each time I see it and I have seen it hundreds of times! Laurel & Hardy are really getting it on in this one.The way that Hardy gets "tortured" is unbelievable but never over the top.Just watch the scene when Laurel slams the door against Hardy after which Hardy slams the door back and gets a huge bucket on his head and then again the door,hilarious! Of course there is also the usual "in the camera looking" by Hardy(the scene with the sigar!).Busy Bodies is for me their best short feature and equals their long masterpiece Way Out West (10/10). Laurel & Hardy are truely the Kings of slapstick comedy,if you haven't seen this one you haven't lived! 10/10