Slipping Wives (Short 1927)

Slipping Wives (Short 1927). 23m

“Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were comedic geniuses, individually and together, and their partnership was deservedly iconic and one of the best there was. They left behind a large body of work, a vast majority of it being entertaining to classic comedy, at their best they were hilarious and their best efforts were great examples of how to do comedy without being juvenile or distasteful.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAfter u0026#39;Duck Soupu0026#39; indicated a step in the right direction for early on in their careers after their previous two short films underwhelmed somewhat (especially u0026#39;45 Minutes from Hollywood), Laurel and Hardyu0026#39;s fourth outing featuring them both u0026#39;Slipping Wivesu0026#39; sees a step backwards. It is nice and entertaining, more than watchable in an inoffensive way, but later offerings make far better use of Laurel and Hardy and their partnership and are much funnier. u0026#39;Slipping Wivesu0026#39; felt like they were not yet fully formed and yet to properly find their feet.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026#39;Slipping Wivesu0026#39; looks quite good and hardly the work of an amateur. Priscilla Dean is charming and amusing and Laurel is great fun, especially in his re-telling of u0026#39;Samson and Delilahu0026#39;. u0026#39;Slipping Wivesu0026#39; is worth watching for him alone.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThere are amusing and charming moments, the aforementioned moment and the climactic chase finale are the highlights, and the pace is generally very energetic. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHardy however has a relatively unimportant and nowhere near as interesting role and his material is inferior to that of Laurelu0026#39;s. A waste, and even more so that u0026#39;Slipping Wivesu0026#39; misses the chance to utilise their chemistry properly. u0026#39;Slipping Wivesu0026#39; doesnu0026#39;t really feel like Laurel and Hardy, due to Hardy having little to do and their chemistry barely existent, and more a Priscilla Dean vehicle featuring the two.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eNot everything is funny, too much of it being predictable and not being sharp enough in timing. The story is very slight and erratically paced, sometimes too busy while not getting going soon enough. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIn summary, worth a look but hardly a Laurel and Hardy essential. 6/10 Bethany Cox”