Horst_In_Translation Review of Any Old Port!

Any Old Port! (1932)

People loved boxing back then at least as much as today and here is Stan and Ollie's take on the matter

[4/10 · 11 February 2018]

"Any Old Port!" is an American black-and-white short film from 1932, so this one had its 85th anniversary last year already, which sadly means that everybody working on it has long died, but it's still not one of the earliest Laurel/Hardy short films as this one is from their sound film period already. Director Horne and writer Walker are also two that were really prolific back in the day. This one here can be easily structured into two parts I guess. First half is about the duo helping a (then) modern damsel in distress struggling with her landlord, typical Stooges stuff later on actually, while the second half is all about boxing and a bit gambling that goes with it. I thought both halves were tolerable without making a big enough impact comedy-wise sadly. Laurel and Hardy elevated the material here, but all in all I am not too surprised this isn't one of their most known ones as truly memorable moments are missing entirely and the boxing ring action also feels a bit unrefined constantly, especially in terms of the comedic impact they were trying to make. This one gets a thumbs-down from me. Not recommended.