The Music Box (1932) User Reviews

What Is The Meaning Of This? A Beacon Of Light.

[Spondonman · 9/10 · 19 October 2005]

The Music Box was the first programme on TV that I saw my daughter really laugh at, aged 14 months in 1981, when the piano dragged Ollie at speed down the steps yet again. Probably also the first thing I laughed at too and at the moment the last in the latest of hundreds of times! Well, Laurel & Hardy shaped my and millions of others' senses of humour so I like to think hers was as well. Kids today who get the chance to see this and who can't get past the pre-digital black & white images to the gold that lies within are not only missing a treat but are probably also making an crucial life-choice too. All of the human condition is contained herein, therefore making it essential viewing also for extra-terrestrials!

They have to deliver a piano to an address - all kinds of catastrophes follow thick and fast. The gags are so perfectly written and executed, and are as utterly relentless as Stan & Ollie's drive to deliver the piano come Hell or pond-water. High-class slapstick disasters follow each other every minute of the 27 (un-remastered version), usually happening to Ollie - although Billy Gilbert's cosy little love-nest was looking a little dishevelled by the climax! The steps have been a Los Angeles tourist attraction for many years now, maybe the most fitting monument to L & H that there could be - if you like this little film that is!

All in all and probably predictably my favourite L & H outing, notwithstanding the similar brilliance of Sons Of The Desert, County Hospital, Thicker than Water, Busybodies, Below Zero etc etc etc.

The Best of the Best of the Best

[Sonatine97 · 9/10 · 2 January 2001]

L&H are without doubt the best comedy double act of all time regardless of media format. Its amazing that their best movies are now 70 years old and yet remain timeless in their humour and inventiveness.

I've had the pleasure of seeing most of their movies - shorts & full format - and all of them have their own individual quirky qualities that other comedians still can't fathom.

The Music Box won them a well-deserved Oscar and although it is an excellently choreographed movie I personally don't think its their very best.

However, my opinion doesn't matter because any L&H fan will regard this movie as their favourite. The story is so simple yet so inventive and full of kinetic & emotive energy.

Stan & Ollie have to deliver a Piano to a highly strung guy who can't stand pianos. But just to make life a little interesting the guy's home just happens to be perched on a hill with the longest flight of steps in history to whit S&O have to push & pull their awkward delivery.

Some of the gags we've seen many times before but it doesn't matter because the added sparkle derives from the human emotions & expressions delivered with such panache from Stan & the long suffering Ollie - the way he looks-to-camera in a pleading kind of way just drives me wild with laughter & sympathy.

I can't find a single fault with this movie short, except that it just flies by so quickly. How I wish today's contemporary comedy writers could spend a few hours in a dark room watching how the masters of comedy produce such wonderful scripts. It proves that there is no need to have cheap & vulgar language, innuendo & explicit violence to make any audience, young or old, laugh with mirth.

The Golden Age of comedy is dead, long live the Golden Age; long live Laurel & Hardy!!!

*****/*****

First rate comedy!

[The_Void · 8/10 · 26 December 2004]

I've got to be honest and say that I haven't seen many Laurel and Hardy shorts, but when I do see one, I usually find myself laughing uncontrollably and this is definitely the best one I've seen. This short sees everyone's favourite bumbling workmen trying to haul a piano up a huge flight of stairs. Of course, everything goes to plan and they get the piano to the top of the stairs without any trouble whatsoever...ahem. Naturally, Laurel and Hardy encounter all manner of trouble during their plight, which leads to a number of hilarious situations. Laurel and Hardy works because the humour is so good-hearted and blends together with various different styles magnificently. Obviously, slapstick is the order of the day; but there's also more than enough dry wit and irony to keep everyone happy. There's a number of highly amusing sequences, too many to mention and I recommend simply watching the film. It's a must see anyway.

A Hilarious Comedy Classic

[Snow Leopard · 6 July 2001]

This is one of the great classics of comedy, with Laurel & Hardy at their very best. It has a wealth of good material, and also shows their ability to extract every possible laugh from a relatively simple situation. It also includes appearances by Billy Gilbert and Charlie Hall, two of their best supporting players.

Stan and Ollie are delivering an old-fashioned player piano (or music box) to a house at the top of a hill. They encounter one difficulty after another getting it up to the top, and when they do, their troubles are just beginning. They use the situation to set up a lot of creative gags, all delivered with excellent timing.

There isn't any description that could really do justice to this hilarious short film - if you enjoy classic comedy, you will want to see "The Music Box" for yourself, so that you can enjoy two masters of comedy at their best.

Delivering A Piano With Mr. Laurel & Mr. Hardy

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 2 May 2000]

A LAUREL & HARDY Comedy Short.

Stan & Ollie are hired to deliver a piano - to a home at the top of a monumental series of steps. During this task of Sisyphus, they encounter every kind of hindrance, from a savage nursery maid to outright police brutality - which is only prologue to the chaos that awaits them when they get THE MUSIC BOX to the top...

This little classic is generally regarded as the Boys' best film, and, indeed, it won the 1932 Oscar for Best Short Subject, their only Academy Award. This is slapstick of a very high level, that born of the utmost frustration, and they make it all look so easy. If only one of their films could be saved for posterity, to show future generations what Laurel & Hardy were all about, this would be it.

Highlight (besides the stairs): the Boys' little dance to `The Arkansas Traveler'. That's Charlie Hall as the postman & the one and only Billy Gilbert as the apoplectic Professor Schwarzenhoffen.

You want to laugh, cry...but mostly strangle the pair of them!!!!

[Gimli_son_of_Gloin_9 · 10/10 · 11 March 2005]

The Laurel & Hardy Transfer Company Foundered 1931 are to deliver a piano which has been bought as a birthday gift by a wife for her husband. All is going fine for the to until helpful postman Charlie Hall (for once not in a role with a grudge against the boys) tell them, that the house they are looking for is at the top of the stoop - in other words on a big hill with lots of stairs between them and it! After practically flattening Ollie taking the piano of their cart, they proceed to take the piano up the stairs. Lots of straining later, half-way up they encounter a nanny with a pram trying to pass. Being the typical gentlemen, Ollie try's to assist the lady - leaving Stan holding onto the piano. Stan (being Stan) joins to help - leaving the piano to it's own devices which decides it would like to go down all the stairs to the bottom. Stan being fed up with the nanny being in hysterics at the pairs misfortune, he promptly kicks her "right in the middle of her daily duties" as she later explains to a policemen. The policemen encounters the two when they are back again half-way up the stairs with the piano. Stan goes down (at Ollie's insistence) to see what he wants - only to be told it's Ollie he wants to talk to (as he believes Ollie kicked the nanny). After letting go of the piano it once again finds it's way at the bottom - only this time with Ollie in tow. Back to square one. Up they go again this time to meet a grand gentlemen who wishes to pass. Ollie (very wisely) suggests he should walk around. The man explodes and we learn that he is a Professor and is too important to walk around. Anyone wearing a hat as large as his had better say farewell to it as courtesy of the boys, it rolls all the way down the stairs and under the wheels of a vehicle below. Stan & Ollie finally get to the top but Ollie mistakes the steps to the pond as the last few stairs to go. Splash! Ringing the doorbell Stan, guarding the piano wanders away leaving it to trundle it's merry way down all the stairs! When the boys finally get back up again the same helpful postman informs them that they should have driven up a road that would have led them to the top - instead of using the stairs. This being Stan & Ollie they proceed to take the piano back down the stairs again so they can come back up the "corret" way!

When they once again reach the top, and finding no-body home, Ollie suggest taking the piano through an open window on the top floor - not even checking to see if the front door is open. When they eventually get the piano into the house after a series of mishaps including Ollie and the piano falling into the pond, as well as confusion over who owns which hat - the when comes to open the case, which due to the fact it went for a paddle in the pond is full of water. Not a problem, as Stan very thoughtfully sponges the water with his handkerchief and wrings it out in Ollies hat. Some more mishaps follow in which the room is wrecked. To the music of the piano the duo have a little dance whilst clearing up the mess. The Professor, finds his home destroyed, a piano (a thing he loathes) and the same two who caused him grief previously in his house. In a rage he sets about destroying the piano - only for his wife to walk in who bought it as a birthday gift for him. The husband and wife make up and the Professor wishes to make amends with Stan & Ollie. All they want is for him to sign their delivery paper, but as they pass him a pen the ink squirts in the professor's face and the two scurry away with him in hot pursuit.

Very predictable. Very Laurel & Hardy. Very funny!!

The plot is so simple yet it is probably Laurel & Hardy's most memorable film. This shows their genius and their appeal more so than any other. It also shows them at the height of their wonderful career. It is a real mixture of laughing out loud, holding your hands over your eyes, sighing in exasperation or feeling you would like to knock their heads together. No matter how many time you see it you always feel the same. Their films give so much pleasure and you always walk away smiling.

Another fine mess....

[td550 · 8/10 · 28 October 2002]

Question: why oh why aren't Laurel and Hardy films shown on TV at sensible times any more here in the UK? When I was a lad, they were on at 6pm on BBC2 and I spent many happy evenings as a child laughing my head off at their comedy short films. Now, you're lucky to catch them on TV at all, and they always seem to be scheduled at some unearthly hour of the morning.

Anyway, scheduling rant over. If you're a Laurel and Hardy virgin, this is a great place to start. It won them an Oscar, and it's a hilarious piece of perfectly constructed comedy. They are bungling delivery men who have to deliver a piano to a house at the top of an enormous flight of steps. (The location does exist in real life, apparently, and it's one of my aims in life one day to visit those steps and walk up 'em!) Needless to say, the piano seems to spend more time sliding back down the steps than it does going up them.

It's almost certainly their best short, and is required viewing for anyone wanting to know why Laurel and Hardy are one of the greats of movie comedy.

The modern Sisyphus

[Liedzeit · 10/10 · 29 December 1999]

Laurel and Hardy (or Dick und Doof as they were affectionately called in Germany) gave us many unforgettable films. As a rule the simpler the story the better. This short film is a master piece. There is not one scene in it that is not hilarious. And it is also quite deep when you think about. Even those of us who have never heard of Sisyphus will know the essence of the thing after watching this delightful little film.

Oscar winning short

[rbverhoef · 7/10 · 17 July 2004]

This is Laurel and Hardy's Oscar winning short film. It is their only short that ever won an Academy Award. I must admit that I liked it, but it is definitely not my favorite Laurel and Hardy short.

The short starts with explaining to us that Laurel and Hardy start their own business. After this we see a woman buying a piano that has to be delivered at her home. The Laurel & Hardy Moving Co. has to do that. The woman lives on a hill and the piano in a box must be carried up a stairs. On the way Laurel and Hardy have some trouble with a woman, a professor and of course a cop. The stairs itself causes some problems as well.

The parts on the stairs are pretty funny. The predictable gags work and make sure some of the unpredictable ones work even better. There is a lot of nice physical action, some special effects and a priceless kicking scene involving Laurel, but the short itself is a little too long. The musical number near the end makes up for that, but it can not make this short the masterpiece some people say it is.

Not just Laurel and Hardy's best, but the funniest movie ever made.

[JR-59 · 10/10 · 25 October 2000]

Put simply, this is the funniest movie of all time. I cannot believe that there is anyone in the world who can watch this film and not be in hysterics by the last scene. Laurel and Hardy provided the template for all (and I mean all) comedy films that followed, and this was their absolute best.

When repetition breeds contempt

[StevePulaski · 6/10 · 6 December 2014]

The Music Box opens with Mrs. Von Schwarzenhoffen (Gladys Gale) purchasing a piano for her husband Professor Theodore Von Schwarzenhoffen, M.D., A.D., D.D.S., F.L.D., F-F-F-and-F (Billy Gilbert), which will be delivered just in time for his birthday by Laurel and Hardy Transfer Company. That sentence alone should let one know what they're getting into with this kind of short film, but I digress. Laurel and Hardy, in this particular short, are movers, and partake in the challenge of lugging a gigantic crate to the top of the staircase where Schwarzenhoffen lives. The two struggle, heaving, and hoing until one of them is about to do the heaving themselves, battling hernia and frustration after numerous failed attempts at getting the piano to its rightful owner.

The Music Box doesn't so much rely on slapstick as it does comedic repetition, sort of employing the logic that if something silly is done long enough it will prove to be funny. The result winds up being a moderately funny short that gets a few laughs because of the situational comedy and the persistency of its heroes. However, at twenty-eight minutes, The Music Box is a one-note joke stretched out far too thin, with little humor prevailing past the eighteen minute mark. The frustration becomes as real as Laurel and Hardy's by that point after watching the piano crate fall back down the stairs twice in a matter of minutes.

Once again, the witty, verbal banter between the hapless duo prevails and proves more memorable in a long term sense that the slapstick routines of Laurel and Hardy that simply feel like they're hitting a checklist of all the obligatory motions, figuratively and literally. The Music Box is entertaining to a degree and features committed physical performances by its actors, but is far too slight to justify such an usually lengthy runtime.

Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Billy Gilbert, and Gladys Gale. Directed by: James Parrott.

Unbeatable, classic, laugh out loud comedy...

[dash-wortley · 9/10 · 3 September 2003]

Laurel & Hardy! Just the names alone brings to my mind the most talented comedy duo ever, bar none! And this, "The Music Box" is probably the finest of their work, though there are others that are very close! Too many to mention in fact.I've spent the last month or two having a Laurel and Hardy film season, and I watched around 35 of their films, and naturally I laughed many many times....theres nothing better to cheer you up. "The Music Box" itself stands out-it was the film that won them an oscar, wonderfully written, and marvellously filmed! Those steps would put most people off just to climb them on their own, but with a piano!!!Classic! If you haven't seen this movie, and there can't be many who haven't, see it as soon as you can, and when you want a good old fashioned laugh! 9.5/10

Unexpectedly disappointing

[Ted-5 · 6/10 · 11 October 2003]

Nobody was ever funnier than Laurel and Hardy. And this comedy won them their only Academy Award. Sorry, but I find the endless repetition of the boys carrying the piano up the stairs only to see it rolling back down (as we knew it would) is tedious. Billy Gilbert's tirade at the end is a welcome shot-in-the-arm, but not enough to save this film from being routine.

Their most famous, but not their best

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 9 July 2015]

"The Music Box" is a half-hour black-and white movie featuring Laurel and Hardy. It is probably their most known piece of filmmaking. It was made almost 85 years ago and features the two already during their talking career. Silent movies were a thing of the past in 1932. This also won filmmaking legend Hal Roach one of his two Oscars in a year that featured Academy Awards for short film for the very first time. The director is James Parrott, a very prolific filmmaker at this point and also a successful actor in the past although by 1932 his acting career was pretty much long over. He was also the brother of silent film star Charley Chase.

However, I cannot agree with the Academy here. The only really funny thing about these 30 minutes in my opinion were Laurel's face expressions. Those were really hilarious. But everything else about this one gets repetitive pretty quickly, for example the ways in which Hardy gets constantly hit by something, most of the time due to Laurel's mistakes. But here and there Laurel gets his fair share too. The ending I am not too sure. It was probably intended funny with the piano allegedly being at the wrong location and then being at the right as it was supposed to be a present. And well.. the close camera shot of the pen getting ink all over the angry guy's face? I have seen better. Back in the day and also by Laurel and Hardy. This is not their best work, but it's also not as big a mess as the house at the end of this film. All in all, one of the weaker Academy Award winners in the short film category. It would have been better if they had kept it more essential at 15 or 20 minutes max. Not recommended.

Probably the greatest short of the greatest comedy duo in cinema history

[bakooi-1 · 10/10 · 14 February 2011]

This L&H-short relies solely on a premise. Stan and Ollie have to deliver a piano to a house. To get there, they have to get up an incredibly long staircase before they can even get to the front door. But even when they've reached the house there is no end to the chaos. The greatness of this short lies in it's deliberate pacing and perfect timing. Many jokes you see coming miles ahead, but the timing of the punchline always catches you off-guard and leaves you roaring with laughter. The best gag involves Stan pulling up the piano using a sunscreen, a joke too brilliantly executed to spoil. Watch it, enjoy it, marvel at the legend of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.

typically funny short from Laurel and Hardy

[didi-5 · 8/10 · 6 January 2005]

Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy, a piano and a house right at the top of a flight of steps. Sounds like a recipe for success, and it is.

'The Music Box' sees our dysfunctional heroes as delivery men who have to take a large, heavy piano to the house of the von Schwarzenhoffens (the mad professor and the twittery wife, typically staple characters of comedy shorts). First they have to get it to the house (up a lot of steps!), then they have to get it inside, installed, and working.

A small supporting cast of tiny cameo roles includes Lilyan Irene as a giggly nursemaid, Billy Gilbert as the blustering Professor, and Charlie Hall as the smart Alec postie. The delight of 'The Music Box' is watching Laurel and Hardy themselves, consummate comedy performers, with their slapstick and their engaging personalities.

Thirty Minutes Of Comic Genius!

[lisa-kevin3531 · 10/10 · 1 February 2010]

My uncle introduced me to Laurel and Hardy when I was just eight years old. He used to show The Music Box on his Super8 movie projector. I laughed then as a young child and today at 46 years of age I'm still laughing! Even those whose memory of L&H has faded over these many years still remember those steps! I call this movie "Laurel and Hardy vs The Steps!" Such a simple comic idea milked to perfection! Show this movie to a bunch of young kids and watch what happens! Even the most boisterous youngster will be glued to the screen for half an hour! Comedy like this is nonexistent today. Stan and Ollie were so good at what they did because they had a genuine sense of good humor and the fact that they were best buds in real life. RIP Guys, and thanks for so many wonderful years of laughs!

A moving comedy

[highclark · 10/10 · 14 April 2005]

Although I love 'The Music Box' and I feel that it should be considered an all time classic, I have to say that I saw the Three Stooges use these same steps in 'An Ache In Every Stake' before I ever saw 'The Music Box'. I recognized those steps as being the same ones that Curly climbed on a hot day while delivering melting ice. You see, when I grew up the Three Stooges were on TV every day, Laurel and Hardy would appear only occasionally, maybe on a Sunday. It doesn't take away from what Laurel and Hardy did, because what they did was timeless, absolutely perfect. You can still like both versions, but it's better to know from the source, that is if you're able to.

That said, I think this short film is one of Laurel and Hardy's best, not because it's so funny, which it is, but because of the lasting images it provides, especially that of the long steps (that still exist today) and the many mishaps in the water fountain outside of the house.

This short film is a great place to start if you've never seen a Laurel and Hardy film, but then again, there isn't a bad place to start either.

One of the less celebrated scenes in this film, probably because it is more charming than funny, is the dancing scene inside the house. Once Stan and Ollie get the piano situated inside the house, the two switch the player piano on and proceed with a little soft shoe routine. There's something about the give and take between the two performers that exceeds their business partnership as funny men, they actually seem to like one another as people, if not just their partnership. I think it's this quality that separates Laurel and Hardy from other comedy duos such as Abbott & Costello or Martin & Lewis. It's also probably the main reason you're bound to have a smile on your face after seeing any Laurel and Hardy film. They had a unique chemistry away from the laughs.

You could say that with the amount of steps they had to climb that they had to go a long way to get laughs, but you must know by now, the trip in getting there is what makes it entirely worth it.

10/10. Clark Richards

Right in the Middle of Her Daily Duties

[tedg · 5 July 2007]

I confess, I don't find these guys to be funny. Its the humor of debasement and destruction and there are better, more clever ways to be amused. I suppose this is the best of what they did, though.

There is one amazing bit of humor here. Remember this is the precode period.

They encounter a pretty blond maid, taking a baby stroller out. She's a bitch, and gets kicked in the butt. The term used is the title of this comment, which has to be one of the richest and bluest comic lines ever written. And we thought these were physical comedians!

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

"Of all the dumb things!"

[The_Movie_Cat · 6/10 · 5 February 2001]

It's almost impossible to imagine this Laurel and Hardy film being commissioned nowadays. Quite apart from the fact it's a short, The Music Box contains many elements that mean such a picture could never be commissioned in a shallower, demographics-led age. A film about two middle-aged, not exactly attractive men? No love interest, just a woman to order the piano, and a mother to be kicked up the backside by Stan? And the whole film's about them moving a piano?

Yet this was 1932 and for that we must be grateful. While The Music Box may seem a little singular in it's intent, it should be noted that the piano reaches the top of the stairs by the half-way point, and only gets to fall down them three times. (They take it back down for a fourth). On the downside, despite being their sole Oscar-winner (for Best Short Subjects, Comedy), the humour does seem a little more forced than usual, and the cuts more notable. Note how the "piano" floats when it first falls into the pond, then the picture cuts to allow it to sink.

While the thought of Stan and Ollie taking a piano up some stairs, getting it to the top, then taking it back down again when told there was an easier way to do it is funny, you have to ask yourself are even Laurel and Hardy that dumb? The second half is the better, if less remembered segment. Here the duo demolish a house while trying to install the piano, with a highlight being the pair's Dixieland tap dance. While arguably the best remembered of all Laurel and Hardy's films, certainly of their shorts, The Music Box isn't them at their best. However, even below standard L & H is well above everybody else's average, and we must be grateful for a time, long ago, when such a project would get a producer's green light.

Classic Laurel & Hardy: Oscar Winning Short

[adventure-21903 · 10/10 · 12 July 2020]

Laurel & Hardy, the most accomplished comedy team in movie history, made this comedy classic in 1932 and the film was honored with an Oscaras the first short film. The story goes that Laurel & Hardy have a delivery service and one knows what is in store when even their horse gives them a wink and a nod and. a hard time. They unload the Piano a gift from a wife to her husband on his birthday. All sorts of tribulations go by especially a hilarious run in with an uptight Professor played brilliantly by Billy Gilbert. The film is sheer hilarity from start to fade out.

Babe Hardy died in the mid 50's and Stan Laurel refused all acting offers. Stanley Kramer wanted Laurel to appear in Spencer Tracy's It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Kramer sent over a blank check and asked Laurel to write his own scene. Laurel true to form returned the check and declined the offer.

Stan Laurel was awarded an Honorary Oscar but the Great Starasked Danny Kaye to accept the Oscar.

So Near and Yet So Far

[Screen_O_Genic · 7/10 · 14 July 2019]

Laurel and Hardy are delivery boys who have to transport a piano to a customer's residence. A typical day at the job? Not until they see the steep stair that goes all the way to the top which they'll have to ascend with the cumbersome item to get the job done. And so the adventure begins. Laughs galore crash forth (literally at times) as the dominant and bullying Hardy and the submissive and nonchalant Laurel exasperate and nudge each other just to get the damn thing done. Like a lot of slapstick there's corny parts and the film goes on too long. Regardless of the flaws this is still one of the funniest shorts in comedy and will make one admire the talented duo and how comedians can come up with so many gags from the most mundane examples. Bring out the drinks and snacks and give yourself a half hours thrill with this li'l snippet of history and comedy.

A Steinway to heaven

[Prismark10 · 10/10 · 13 November 2018]

This Oscar winning short is a classic from Laurel & Hardy.

They become deliverymen and have to deliver a large crate containing a piano. Unfortunately they have to take it to a house on top of a large flight of steps.

With Laurel & Hardy this is not an easy task. They have to deal with rude woman with a baby who could not push a pram around them. A professor with plenty of letters after his name who certainly objects to go around them. A cop who makes them come down the steps and gives Oliver a poke.

The crate with the piano has a mind of its own which is to go down the steps. You should look at Oliver's face when he sees the postman who tells them both that there was no need for them to go up the stairs in the first place.

It is silly and hilarious. Top notch stuff from Laurel & Hardy.

Stupidity at its Finest

[gavin6942 · 7/10 · 10 November 2015]

Like the legendary Sisyphus, deliverymen Laurel and Hardy struggle to push a large crated piano up a seemingly insurmountable flight of stairs.

The film is a partial remake of their silent short "Hats Off" (1927), which was filmed at the same location and is today considered a lost film. Hats Off was itself remade by Edgar Kennedy in 1945 as It's Your Move, but utilizing a different staircase although located in the same vicinity where the "Music Box Steps" are in Silver Lake.

First of all, I love that the person who wrote the summary compared these guys to Sisyphus. That actually makes it sound like it has some deeper meaning, which it likely does not. Unless of course the meaning is to use your head and think things through. The comedy is mostly these guys failing and hurting themselves, but also their inability to see easy solutions (like pulling a piano up a balcony rather than just unlocking the door from the inside).

1127 Walnut Avenue

[richardchatten · 10/10 · 18 October 2022]

The only Laurel & Hardy film to win an Oscar contains along with 'The Battleship Potemkin' easily the most outstanding sequence ever staged on a flight of steps. (If I ever get to visit Hollywood those steps would be my number one priority to have my picture taken, number two being the Bates mansion from 'Psycho'.)

A remake of a tantalisingly lost film of 1927 shot on the very same steps called 'Hat's Off!' up which the boys originally lugged a washing machine. Since they were now making a talkie it was typically inspired of Laurel to substitute a piano to exploit the new-found miracle of sound by making their emit a cacophony of jangles every time it is disturbed.

Pure joy. It even includes one of their dances.