"Big Business" is another winner from Laurel and Hardy. They play two salesmen of Christmas trees and their sales haven't been too promising (hardly surprising when it's July). They visit different addresses in order to make a sale but no success. Then they incur the wrath of James Finlayson who cuts up one of their trees. This soon escalates into a game of tit for tat as the boys commit damage to Finlayson's house for every act of vandalism that's caused them. Laurel and Hardy knew how to make such slapstick very creative and they are just that in "Big Business." In an exceptionally rare moment, we witness Ollie burst into tears! I can hardly recall another film where that happened. I loved this short, I can't stop laughing.

I had the pleasure of seeing this Laurel and Hardy short recently at the Old Town Music Hall theater in El Segundo, Ca. Totally brilliant comedy has Laurel and Hardy as Christmas tree salesmen in Los Angeles going door-to-door trying to peddle their flimsy products. They come up against a particularly cantankerous older man and hijinks ensue. The genius of this one is the way the situation builds upon upon a single small incident until things reach truly catastrophic proportions. When you think it can't get any worse, it does. And when you think they've gone far enough, they go even further. Watching this with a large audience of all ages really was proof that great comedy is timeless. Everyone in the theater was roaring with laughter by the time it was through. Just wonderful.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are the most famous comedy duo in history, and deservedly so, so I am happy to see any of their films. Stan and Ollie are selling Christmas trees door to door, and they are not having the best of luck, asking an unmarried woman, and someone not wanting peddlers with a hammer. It is when they get to the door of the male Homeowner (James Finlayson) that the laughs really commence. He says he is not interested, and the boys keep ringing the bell when the tree and Stan's coat keep getting caught in the door, until Finlayson loses patience and throws their tree away. They ask if he wants an answer for next door, and he cuts up their tree, and this sparks a hilarious battle of properties. We see house numbers pulled off, door hinges taken off, Finlayson's hair cut, a pocket watch broken, the door bell and phone line ripped, Ollie's shirt and tie cut up, Finlayson sprayed in the doorway by a hose, the boys' car destroyed piece by piece, and Finalyson house and plants vice versa. A crowd gathers and a policeman eventually comes over to break it up, and Stan's sobbing gets everyone else going too, and the boys apologise giving Finlayson a sorry cigar. The film ends with the policeman chasing the boys' after seeing them laugh, and Finalyson's cigar blows in his face. This is among Laurel and Hardy's greatest films, it features some of the funniest moments and all the wonderful slapstick and classic comedy you could want from a black and white film, and even with slightly off tune music it is an excellent silent film. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Outstanding!

Based on what I'd heard about it, I didn't think I was going to enjoy this part of the programme much; destruction derbies really aren't my thing, and while I used to love Laurel and Hardy as a child, I've been a bit disappointed recently on re-viewing their work. Well, I was wrong!Admittedly the funny bits of this film consist almost entirely of smashing things up, but somehow it's the completely childish and almost innocent way in which it's done that raises the laughs: Hardy attempting to dig up the lawn one shovelful at a time, Finlayson rolling vainly on the ground in a Christmas-tree-tantrum. And then, of course, there's the mass hysteria of the ending...I don't think I can possibly have enjoyed it as much as the ladies next to me (who were in non-stop whoops for the last ten minutes), but I definitely found it very much funnier than I was expecting.