That's a quote from William Everson's book "The Films of Laurel and Hardy" about "Any Old Port!," and I have to agree.
Plot In a Nutshell: Two friends (Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy) get mixed up with a tough hotel owner/boxer.
Why I rated it a '5': To be blunt, it's just not very funny. The entire 'signing the hotel register' scene is downright painful to watch. Dumb dumb dumb. I must have groaned 4-5 times at Stan's stupidity. Sometimes it's just too much. And this was one of those times. That whole scene should be thrown out.
The slight story has the boys coming to the aid of a young woman who does not want to marry the hotel owner. Eventually they steal the key to the room in which she's held, and a long chase between the hotel owner and the boys follows. It's OK, but it's not particularly funny. Eventually they get the best of the guy, free the woman, and they are on their way.
Later, realizing they are short of money, Ollie agrees to take part in a boxing match, then forces Stan to do it. Nice friend. As it turns out, the opponent is the same tough hotel owner. The one who didn't even notice when two billiard balls were thrown with considerable force and connected with his head. But now this same tough guy feels the need to load his glove with metal parts? That really doesn't make sense does it? For the story to 'work' I guess it does, but logically....no. It makes no sense at all. Weak.
Others here have written how the boxing match is 'hilarious' but I don't see why. It's basically Stan hugging his much bigger opponent until the the ref separates them. They lose some gloves in the process, Stan now has the loaded glove, and the match soon ends. Pretty average stuff.
I've seen some reviewers here rate just about every L&H film a '10' and that's just fanboy nonsense. Some of their stuff was absolutely great, but not EVERYTHING. And this sadly was one of the misses. Mediocre at best.
5/10. Would I watch again (Y/N)?: Doubtful. Laughs are few and far between.
Plot In a Nutshell: Two friends (Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy) get mixed up with a tough hotel owner/boxer.
Why I rated it a '5': To be blunt, it's just not very funny. The entire 'signing the hotel register' scene is downright painful to watch. Dumb dumb dumb. I must have groaned 4-5 times at Stan's stupidity. Sometimes it's just too much. And this was one of those times. That whole scene should be thrown out.
The slight story has the boys coming to the aid of a young woman who does not want to marry the hotel owner. Eventually they steal the key to the room in which she's held, and a long chase between the hotel owner and the boys follows. It's OK, but it's not particularly funny. Eventually they get the best of the guy, free the woman, and they are on their way.
Later, realizing they are short of money, Ollie agrees to take part in a boxing match, then forces Stan to do it. Nice friend. As it turns out, the opponent is the same tough hotel owner. The one who didn't even notice when two billiard balls were thrown with considerable force and connected with his head. But now this same tough guy feels the need to load his glove with metal parts? That really doesn't make sense does it? For the story to 'work' I guess it does, but logically....no. It makes no sense at all. Weak.
Others here have written how the boxing match is 'hilarious' but I don't see why. It's basically Stan hugging his much bigger opponent until the the ref separates them. They lose some gloves in the process, Stan now has the loaded glove, and the match soon ends. Pretty average stuff.
I've seen some reviewers here rate just about every L&H film a '10' and that's just fanboy nonsense. Some of their stuff was absolutely great, but not EVERYTHING. And this sadly was one of the misses. Mediocre at best.
5/10. Would I watch again (Y/N)?: Doubtful. Laughs are few and far between.