One Good Turn

1931
7.1| 0h20m| NR| en| More Info
Released: 31 October 1931 Released
Producted By: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Country: United States of America
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
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Down and out Stan and Ollie beg for food from a friendly old lady who provides them with sandwiches. While eating, they overhear the lady's landlord tell her he's going to throw her out because she can't pay her mortgage. They don't realize that the old lady is really rehearsing for a play. Stan and Ollie decide to help the old lady by selling their car. During the auction a drunk puts a wallet in Stan's pocket. Ollie accuses Stan of robbing the old lady, but when the truth is revealed Stan takes revenge on Ollie.

Genre

Comedy

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Director

James W. Horne

Production Companies

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer

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One Good Turn Audience Reviews

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.
Lumsdal Good , But It Is Overrated By Some
Claysaba Excellent, Without a doubt!!
Contentar Best movie of this year hands down!
Michael_Elliott One Good Turn (1931) ** 1/2 (out of 4)L&H set out to raise $100 when they overhear an elderly woman say she's going to be evicted. Not too many laughs in this one outside the opening sequence in the woods. Leave 'Em Laughing (1928) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Laurel is suffering from a toothache so Hardy takes him to the dentist who accidentally fills them with laughing gas. The early gags of Hardy trying to pull the tooth are funny but the ending with the cars goes on a bit too long and gets rather tiresome.They Go Boom! (1929) *** (out of 4) Hardy has a cold so it's up to Laurel to try and find a cure so that they can get a good night's sleep. Highlights include the mustard bath and the exploding mattress.Thicker Than Water (1935) ** 1/2 (out of 4)Laurel and Hardy waste $300 on a grandfather clock so Hardy's wife hits him with a frying pan and sends him to the hospital. Again, not too funny and the worst part is the ending where the two change personalities. This here should have been a lot funnier than it turned out.
Brenda Stiller Welcome to Hooverville, Laurel & Hardy style!!! (A chicken in every pot? Well then I hope the soup that was ruined wasn't chicken soup.) I feel that this is the most sentimental of all the L&H films I've seen...as much as it is funny. It even concerns a theme that certainly holds up today: unemployment and homelessness. Difference between '31 and '05? Then they were just generally 'victims' and even willing to work for their food, as Hardy had suggested; today they're probably on heroin or crack and will probably mug you for a fix, not food.Of course, then there's the victims of President Bush...And the ending? OK, I know that it was more than likely personal, but being a lady who turned 50 a month ago and has seen more than her share of what life has to offer, I could never conceive of ANYone not getting 'fighting mad' after being wrongfully accused of stealing. In fact, today - rightly or wrongly accused - someone would more than likely take out a gun and shoot you point blank, not merely try to break open your head with firewood logs.How times have changed from the '30s. Maybe THAT'S where the 'sentimental' part comes in?
knsevy ****SPOILERS****YOU WERE WARNED****Another great from Stan and Ollie's salad days.We find the boys, as usual, down on their luck. Of course, this was filmed during the Great Depression, when it wasn't uncommon for able-bodied men to beg meals. One of the qualities I've always respected about The Boys is that, no matter how depressing their circumstances, they never played it for maudlin sympathy. A movie about two men with no homes, no jobs and nothing to eat is kind of hard to envision as a comedy, on the surface, but The Boys pull it off grandly. Most of the great comedians of this era at least occasionally portrayed characters in dire straits - Chaplin did it almost constantly. I find it interesting to look at their disparate approaches to the same type of character.For instance, Chaplin, 'The Little Tramp', WAS a tramp. He could be sneaky, and would even steal if need be. Harold Lloyd could always be counted on to rise from poverty by his own brashness and go-getter personality. Keaton's character was half-sleepwalker, often stumbling into what he needed through a combination of bluff and sheer luck. I wonder how each of these characters would have faced the situation the boys find themselves in, when they discover that the nice old woman is apparently about to be put out on the street.Laurel and Hardy, they of the sincere, childlike ways, resolve to help the lady by selling their car, their last possession on earth. This, also could have been played up for schmaltz and sympathy, but instead the film takes this touching gesture and uses it as the springboard for the farce to follow.The film contains some of The Boys' trademark physical comedy, not slapstick or pantomime, but a dialogue of sight gags without a single word spoken. Two that come to mind are the sandwich-eating scene in the kitchen, and right after Stan manages to set their tent on fire. For me, the biggest laugh in the film was seeing a more and more-concerned Ollie watch Stan rush out of the bushes, grab a teacup full of water and rush back, again and again, until finally the tragedy is revealed.A real gem.
bob the moo Laurel and Hardy are destitute – living by the river in a tent and their car. When Laurel manages to destroy most of their few remaining possessions they are forced to beg door to door for food. A misunderstanding with a kindly old lady leads the duo into a kind act that ultimately leads to a division between them.This film has no one major strong scene that stuck in my mind, but it does have a consistently funny tale that made me laugh the whole way through. The plot starts with the usual `down on their luck' set up that works very well – Laurel playing with fire is well done. The actual plot device used to create the main story is a little contrived but it is played so well that it doesn't really matter.All though the short there are lots of nice touches.- Hardy's looks are as good as ever. Some fans may feel that this is more low key than they expected due to the lack of a big sequence, but the smaller, consistent jokes work well to produce a short that lacks a major peak, but then manages to have no dips either.The cast are good. The little old lady is a little clichéd and James Finlayson has little of value to do, but Laurel and Hardy are both good. Here Laurel keeps his usual character but he also adds a tougher edge. In other shorts he has tended to be one or the other (often being tougher in later films) but here he gets the mix right (apparently due to Laurel wanting to let his daughter see her dad stand up for himself onscreen). Hardy is as good as always.Overall this lacks peaks but makes up for it by being consistently funny from the opening campfire sequence right through to logs a-flying!