Those familiar with the L&H silent shorts "Two Tars", and "Should Married Men Go Home?" will see certain resemblances between those films and the present film. As in "Two Tars", they are a couple of nitwit sailors on shore leave. Then, all 3 films include a terminal brawl, although quite different in character from each other. Also, in all 3 films, the boys pick up a pair of dates extemporaneously, who stay with them for all or most of the rest of the film. The soda fountain scene, for the most part, is an exact duplicate of that in "Should Married Men Go Home".The endings are somewhat different. Here, Stan risks his $.15 in a slot machine, hoping he can win enough to cover the unexpectedly expensive sodas. In fact, he hits the jackpot, easily winning enough to cover a boat ride with the girls. Also, in this one, an extra gag is inserted, in which Stan drinks all of a soda shared with Ollie. He explains that his half was on the bottom........In an earlier gag, the boys are looking for an excuse to reconnect with 2 young ladies in the park. They come upon a pair of bloomers on the sidewalk(dropped from a laundress's basket). They speculate on the possibility that one of the girls lost this! They decide the possibility is great enough to risk an inquiry. They hide the bloomers behind them, and ask if the girls have lost anything. Actually, one has, but it's a pair of gloves. So, why don't they tell the boys this? Instead, they describe the item in terms that generally could apply to the bloomers, thus extending the suspense. Finally, along comes a cop, who presents them with the gloves. No matter, the girls are eager to join the boys in a soda. Stan manages to dispose of the hidden bloomers in a bush.........The upcoming boat ride is an all around disaster. Unlike the otherwise canoes paddling the small lake, they get a skiff with 2 oars. Ollie relaxes on cushions, with the 2 girls, on one end, while Stan does the rowing. Trouble is, they just go around in circles. I don't understand why. Stan is pulling the oars on both sides. So, Ollie decides he needs to direct Stan in the correct technique. As you might expect, his method is guaranteed to send them in circles. Eventually, Charlie Hall, hits them broadside with his canoe. They fight about whose fault it was. Ollie throws a cushion at him that misses, and hits another canoer, causing him to fall in the water, and his canoe to hit another. Eventually, all these people make it to the boys' boat and get in to engage in some close combat. Finally, the boat is packed with people, but James Finlayson: the boatowner, and a policeman, swim out, and try to get in, causing the boat to sink, to end the story. A good, if not superb, L&H effort.
See it at YouTube. I watched the colorized version.
Review of Men O'War
