Blotto

[Angus McLaurel]

Stan has a problem. He wants to go out, but his wife won`t let him. He needs fresh air but can`t think of an excuse to get out. Ollie phones him and between them they plan an excuse. Stan Delivers himself a false telegram in a bid to outwit his wife. His wife, however has overheard the entire conversation and is aware of what they are up to. She goes along with Stan`s little plan, just so she can teach them a lesson later.

Stan & Ollie go to the `Rainbow` club for a drink. (A bottle of wine that Stan sneaked out from home) They drink it merrily and get quite intoxicated, laughing about what they had done.

While Stan & Ollie are enjoying themselves, Stan`s wife is sat at the back of the club watching them. When they spot her, she points out to them that they had only been drinking cold tea (as she had replaced it earlier). She chases them out of the club with a double barrel shotgun.



This is one of my all time favourite films. It has everything Stan & Ollie has to offer, apart from maybe a couple of more comedy reactions from Ollie. Anyway, the film starts off simple enough, Stan wants to go out for some fresh air, but his strict wife refuses. The way that Stan handles the situation is typical of a married man. He stomps about with a face like thunder, but doesn`t say anything to argue the matter.

The phone call scene between Stan and Ollie is pure class. I like how Stan blows Ollies hat off down the phone. Very clever. Also the scene where Stan sends himself the false telegram is brilliant. The way he nearly climbs back out the window, how he forgets the telegram when he goes back in and later when he attempts to walk out the door, but goes out the wrong side and straight into the wall.

I also like the scene in the club where they have smuggled in the bottle of wine (cold tea). Their attempt to disguise the fact of smuggling by making more noise than imaginable.

Great gags include, Stan`s ear wiggle as he has his first taste of the wine and his infamous cry, as the chap sings `The curse of an aching heart`

But the main laughter point of `Blotto` has to be the laughter scene, as Stan thinking he has drunk genuine wine bursts into a fit of hilarious laughter. It`s a scene which you just can`t help laughing at, and one that was repeated in later films (`Scram` & `Way Out West`) It was also a scene used earlier in silent film `Leave `Em laughing`. A really funny film that you can laugh at again and again. (9/10)

[mgm]

Stan looks like Sherlock Holmes with his pipe, in fact can you imagine Ollie as Dr. Watson as well or is it just my deranged mind?. With a wife like Anita Garvin I think I'd want to get pissed too. Is there an Oxford in the states?.

Ah, the days before mobiles. Ollie is so polite he even tips his hat to a lady over the phone! Can you still send a telegram?. Is the Rainbow club run by Zippy, George and the rest?. As booze is so hard to get Anita pouring it down the drain seems such a waste. Stan uses a posh voice like Thora Hird in `Last of the Summer Wine` when accepting the telegram, what would he sound like in front of the Queen?.

If you were going to drink a secret bottle wouldn't you have gone in a booth not near the dance floor?. Not one of my favourites I must admit but it's a while since I've seen it, in fact I think it was the TV version I last saw which is edited. Hang on that's a fact, what's a fact doing in one of my rambles?. You see Gary writes reviews and I beggar about a bit.

Is that J-lo's granny on the dance floor?. Anita gets a gun as easy as Michael Moore does in ‘Bowling for Columbine' a film I recommend by the way. 5/10

[mgm]

Note: since wrote above found out how Mr. Moore cheated Gun wise thank's to the film 'Manufacturing Dissent'