Men O' War
About Men O' War
Sailors Stan and Ollie, off duty, meet two women in a park and offer to buy sodas, then find they can pay for only three. Stan drinks both halves of the glass he was supposed to share with Ollie, the check is higher than they thought, and Ollie leaves him to pay it. With one coin left he hits the jackpot on a slot machine. They rent a rowboat with the women, a fight with other boaters puts people in the lake, and the crowd climbs aboard until the boat sinks.
Cast & crew
More about Men O' War
Lewis R. Foster directed the third Laurel and Hardy sound film. Leo McCarey and H. M. Walker wrote it, Hal Roach produced it, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released it on June 29, 1929. It was written and filmed in May 1929, mostly at Hollenbeck Park in Los Angeles, with the soda fountain staged at the Hal Roach studio.
Themes
Look
George Stevens and Jack Roach photographed it. Sound recorded in the park picked up echo, background noise, and laughter from people off camera.
Music
A talkie. The opening credits use the song "Runnin' Wild," also used on They Go Boom.
Notes
- The running time is 19 minutes 47 seconds. Richard C. Currier edited.
- James Finlayson, playing the soda clerk, makes his first sound-film appearance here, including the "D'oh!" that Dan Castellaneta has named as the model for Homer Simpson.
- Anne Cornwall plays Stan's girl and Gloria Greer plays Ollie's. Charlie Hall and Baldwin Cooke are canoers. Harry Bernard is a policeman.
- The lordheath.com filmography dates the shoot 7–15 May 1929 and gives the production number L-25.
Scenes
- Stan swallows Ollie's half of the soda and is left holding the check.
- His last coin hits the jackpot in the slot machine.
- People dumped from other boats crowd into Stan and Ollie's rowboat until it goes under.
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Men O' War (1929).webm)
Quotes
D'oh!
