Review of Their First Mistake

"Their First Mistake" is another Laurel/Hardy short film from their sound film days and this one here runs for 20 minutes and is of course in black-and-white (in the original). The name of director George Marshall may not be too familiar to you, but the supporting cast includes faces that you may have seen in other Stan&Ollie works, even if these are really only in it during the first 5 minutes and everything afterward in this over 85-year-old film is just Stan and Ollie. You will need to be able to stomach the constant baby crying sound, but if you do then you are in for a treat. I think this is among the better works from the duo, maybe not best though, so I am a bit surprised it is not among their most known. Hardy's incompetent yet determined attempts to get the baby to sleep have severe consequences, also for the structure of house and electricity. Laurel's running gag about him drinking the baby's milk never gets old and result also in an ending that fits in nicely with the perception that the two are closer here than usual. After all, Hardy adopts a baby to keep his wife occupied, so he can hang out with his buddy. True father of the year material there. And husband of the year too. No surprise se wants a divorce. I liked the watch here. It was a funny little film with an okax script elevated considerably by the perhaps greatest (comedy) duo in film history. See it. Their mistake is our gain.