Night Owls Edgar KennedyWritten and filmed October-November, 1929. Released by MGM, January, 1930. Produced by Hal Roach. Directed by James Parrott. Two reels.
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Edgar Kennedy, Anders Randolph, James Finlayson. 


STORY: A string of robberies has Police Officer Kennedy on the outs with his chief. They have occured on his beat, and no arrests have been made. Kennedy's encounter with vagrants Stan and Ollie gives him an idea. He makes a deal with The Boys: in exchange for not arresting them for vagrancy, they will break into the Chief's house, whereupon Kennedy will burst in and stage an arrest. The Boys knock over garbage cans and make a racket breaking in, and Kennedy himself winds up arrested for the robberies.

Commentary

JL: This one just doesn't cut it as far as I'm concerned.  I usually have a hard time even remembering most of it.  The business with Edgar Kennedy at the beginning is amusing, making noise in the alley and meowing like cats is cute, but the rest makes for a less memorable film than Berth Marks.

JB: While the idea of Laurel and Hardy trying to break into a house sounds like it should be loaded with laughs, the execution of that idea is frustratingly slow to the point of being annoying. The handful of laughs found here are simply not worth the amount of footage devoted to the Boys being confused by various windows and doors.

Copyright © 2012 John Larrabee, John V. Brennan

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