The team's first three-reel comedy. Three-reelers were made when the laughs or the story demanded it, even though the Roach Studio made no more money from a 30-minute three-reeler than a 20-minute two-reeler. Perhaps no other studio in Hollywood history was afforded this luxury of emphasizing quality over profits.

JL: I like this one, though a little trimming wouldn't hurt it a bit. But it's an unrelievedly happy little film, right up to the end where Anita Garvin chases them with the shotgun. I have to wonder, however, how much the cheery background music, which wasn't added until 7 years after the film's release, contributes to the mood. More than any other, I'm curious to see how this one would play without music. This is one short where I really enjoy Stan, and one of the very few in which he is the slightly dominant character.

JB: The background music, added in a 1937 rerelease of the film, helps this film out tremendously. The pacing and editing in this film is a little off, and the music fills in the space. Blotto is a minor classic, the best film they've done since A Perfect Day, and the opening gun to a series of four films where Laurel and Hardy fully make their mark in talking films. The first half is a delight, with Stan Laurel showing he can be very funny for an extended period even without working off of Oliver Hardy. The second half, in the night club, is Laurel and Hardy at their best. Stan knocking over the table, the singing waiter, "you certainly can tell good liquor when you taste it", the laughing routine --- it's ten minutes in Laurel and Hardy heaven.  My only caveat is the same as yours - with tighter editing, this one would be perfect.