Another Fine Mess is a 1930 short comedy film directed by James Parrott and starring Laurel and Hardy. It is based on the 1908 play Home from the Honeymoon by Arthur J. Jefferson, Stan Laurel's father, and is a remake of their earlier silent film, Duck Soup.
Plot
and Stan Laurel are vagabonds being chased by the police. They hide in the cellar of the mansion of a Quatermain-esque adventurer, Colonel Wilberforce Buckshot, and get trapped there. The colonel is not home, having departed for a safari in South Africa. The mansion is to be rented out until his return, but the staff sneak off for a holiday, leaving the house empty. The house is surrounded by police and the duo has to deceive a rich couple wanting to rent the house. Ollie disguises himself as Buckshot and Stan disguises himself as both butler Hives and chambermaid Agnes. During a girl-talk scene with Thelma Todd and Stan, Stan's comments get sillier and sillier. The real Colonel accidentally returns to fetch his bow and arrows, to find the disorder that had ensued after his departure. Ollie continues his masquerade as Colonel Buckshot to the real colonel, until he sees the portrait on the wall of the real owner. The colonel calls the police for assistance. Stan and Ollie escape the ensuing row dressed as a wildebeest on a stolen tandem bicycle. They ride into a railroad tunnel and encounter a tram, but emerge riding unicycles.
Unlike other Laurel and Hardy shorts, the technical credits are recited by two girls in usherette outfits at the beginning of the film. Beverly and Betty Mae Crane performed the "talking titles" for several Roach productions during the 1930–31 season as an experimental alternative to standard title cards. This was also the first Laurel and Hardy film to feature the well-known Leroy Shield scorings for background music. A couple of previous episodes began experimenting with it, but, beginning with this film, these tunes would be heard regularly in Our Gang, Charley Chase, Boy Friends, and other Hal Roach productions. No foreign-language versions are known to exist of this short. It was possibly shown with subtitles in non-English-speaking countries, as audiences were critical of the unnatural quality of the alternate versions. Exteriors were filmed at the former Guasti Villa at 3500 West Adams Boulevard, Los Angeles, California, which still stands, and is the home of the Peace Theological Seminary & College of Philosophy. The original version is in black and white. But a colored version can be found on YouTube.
