Bacon Grabbers Written and filmed February-March, 1929. Released by MGM, October, 1929. Produced by Hal Roach. Directed by Lewis Foster. Two reels.
Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Edgar Kennedy, Jean Harlow, Harry Bernard.   

STORY: Attachment agents Laurel and Hardy serve a summons to Mr. Kennedy, who has failed to pay the installments for his radio. They wind up destroying both their car and the radio, as Mrs. Kennedy returns home to announce she's just paid for the radio.


JL: Sort of Big Business meets Perfect Day meets Hog Wild, this film.  A lesser film than any of the aforementioned, Bacon Grabbers is nevertheless a solid, funny, even archetypical L&H comedy.  There's scarcely a gag to be found they didn't do elsewhere, but they're all done so skillfully you couldn't care less. The opening scene in the sheriff's office finds them performing the hat routine and "in and out the wrong doors" business they were later to embellish in Beau Hunks.  But this scene, like the rest of the film, is played with such an infectious, joyous energy, you don't miss the gags they were to add in the later version. The film is also another reminder of what a great foil Edgar Kennedy was, bringing to the proceedings his own style of bluster in a role that could have been written with Fin in mind. Bacon Grabbers is a somewhat obscure film, deserving of far more exposure and recognition.

JB: It's full of standard Laurel and Hardy stuff, but there is so much of it, who's to complain?  I don't know of any other comedians who could spend as much time just trying to get out of a room.  And I have to add the entire "trying to give Kennedy the summons" scene onto my list of the most perfectly timed Laurel and Hardy routines. They could have kept that up for twenty minutes and I would have been happy.

Copyright © 2012 John Larrabee, John V. Brennan

PreviousThe SilentsNext Film