It's surprising how old Laurel and Hardy look in this wartime propaganda short. They were only a few years past the prime of their career, but they looked like that period was about twenty years behind them.Made in their lunch hour according to IMDb's trivia section, you can't help thinking they could have probably found more interesting ways of filling their time. The film consists of Pete Smith's voice telling them all about the different things wood is used for. There must have been a reason the US government felt it was important that the country should know about this, but you have to wonder why. Was it so people would be kinder to wood? Or perhaps they wanted people to stop hoarding it. Whatever the reason, the boredom quotient of the subject matter is counter-balanced by Stan and Ollie's presence - they're definitely the best thing about this short.

The film consists of a narrator talking to Laurel and Hardy. The boys say nothing much (other than a laugh) and it was made on grainy color film for release in the theaters during WWII to educate (and bore) audiences on the importance of having wood.This was a Pete Smith Specialty--one of many Pete Smith shorts made during the 1940s. Compared to the other Pete Smith shorts I have seen, this one manages to be even duller--even though it uses Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy to demonstrate that they've got wood in practically everything they are carrying--such as rayons, pressed wood, etc. In many ways, it looks like a film that should have been made for a wood products convention, as no other human beings could possibly find this interesting. In fact, tedious is probably the best description of the short. Even die-hard fans of Laurel and Hardy (like myself) would find this excruciating and you can't detect even the faintest whiff of a laugh.

It seems pretty odd as to why both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy ever agreed to be in this little propaganda movie, to promote wood and wood by-products, for the use of average everyday products.Thing that this movie taught me the most is that Laurel & Hardy don't look good in color. This movie is from 1943 and Laurel & Hardy were already both well over 50 at the time. Their age normally doesn't really show but it does so in this color movie. They really didn't look well and looked old- and stiff in their movements. They really seemed out of place in this movie but yet the obviously still make the movie an interesting and fun one to watch. It's certainly better than normally 'education' and war-time propaganda movies.I also can't deny that this movie is educational. This movie surely taught me some things I didn't knew about wood yet. Not that I'm really interested in it of course but it's still sort of fun to know all. Laurel & Hardy's presence definitely added to the educational level of this movie. They show everything in a fun and quick way, although none of it obviously ever gets hilarious or terribly interesting.It's still a sort of good movie that is made interesting and effective by Laurel & Hardy's presence but it's still sort of sad to see them in this. Alreading getting older and long since over their prime. The only reason they seem to be in this is because of the money. Still the movie remains a sort of collectors item, since it's the only theatrical movie from Laurel & Hardy in full color.I have some mixed feelings about this movie. Laurel & Hardy seem terribly out of place but yet at the same time they're the only reason why this movie is still an effective and interesting one. Therefor I rate it a 'safe' 6 out of 10.6/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This brief wartime educational short is remembered today for one reason only: it offers the rare sight of Laurel & Hardy in color. (They also appear briefly in a surviving color trailer for the lost feature The Rogue Song, and in some 8mm home movie footage from the 1950s.) The Tree in a Test Tube was produced to promote wood conservation on the home front, and for some reason Stan and Ollie were recruited to appear in one sequence. If you're a die-hard fan it's worth a look, but be forewarned, it's a pretty depressing experience. The guys were past their prime, they didn't age well, and they seem quite out of place in the world of the 1940s.The Laurel & Hardy sequence opens this film and was shot silent, with music and overbearing narration added later by Pete Smith of the "Pete Smith Specialties." Smith's films are generally amusing on their own terms, but the wise guy delivery he employs here is at odds with Laurel & Hardy's childlike style of humor. While the guys dutifully display various items in their wallets made from wood and wood by-products, narrator Smith yammers instructions at them like a drill sergeant; worse still, Stan and Ollie are the butt of his sarcastic quips. The closest we get to a gag comes when Stan finds a pair of nylons -- presumably Mrs. Laurel's property -- in his wallet, and feigns embarrassment while Smith chides him. The nagging narration evokes the spirit of the times, while the aging comedians seem like throwbacks to another era.For what it's worth, the redness of Stan's hair and the blueness of his eyes are quite apparent here, even in the somewhat washed-out 16mm print I saw, while Babe Hardy's face appears far more tan than he ever looked in any of their black & white films. This short possesses historic value for its offbeat subject matter and the color cinematography, but for entertainment I'd much rather watch in the guys in their youthful prime in something like You're Darn Tootin' or Busy Bodies, great comedies that don't require any narration from Pete Smith or anyone else.