Linkshoch Wonderful Movie

Pluskylang Great Film overall

Allison Davies The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Quiet Muffin This movie tries so hard to be funny, yet it falls flat every time. Just another example of recycled ideas repackaged with women in an attempt to appeal to a certain audience.

John T. Ryan BEING AN EXAMPLE of the old switcheroo, this entry into the Laurel & Hardy series of 2 reelers puts the Boys into the role of Cops; rather than their being at odds with the Law. The resulting mayhem is pleasant and more than mildly amusing; even if it is decidedly on the predictable side.TO START WITH, the night scene filming is really impressive and does give us the feel of what has long been called "the Dog Watch" in Big City police department circles. The street scenes are authentic in appearance and make for a high classed, impressive and convincing setting. The sets, including the sight of a residential burglary call, do seem to be familiar. No doubt they were the very same shoot sights that were used in so many of Mr. Hal Roach's productions; dating back to the Silents.THE SITUATIONS THAT make up the scenario (such as it is) are mainly unrelated; held together only by their being the assignments of the rookie L & H cop team. Of course, this may be an unintentional concession to reality; for a real tour of duty day would be made up of many different assignments, which would be seldom related.THE CAST OF this one is quite sparse, with only three other players in the early goings on. The burglary suspect and the radio dispatcher's voice are the most prominently featured, other than the store burglar. The largest number of on screen actors appear at the end of the story in the police station. Though unbilled, the actors that filled out the cast are names familiar to the Hal Roach comedies, such as: James C. Morton, Tiny Sanford, Harry Bernard, Billy Bletcher (dispatcher's voice) and Charlie Hall.THE ENDING IS one that we would have to stretch to view as being truly a funny way to leave us laughing. Rather, it could be said to be an example of the surreal on the screen.

theowinthrop Stan and Ollie usually were at great odds with the defenders of law and order. In their early feature film, PARDON US, they end up in prison when Stan sells their first batch of prohibition booze to a police officer. In THE HOOSEGOW they are on a chain gang, and manage to make a visit by the state governor (Jimmy Finlayson) a total disaster for their warden (Tiny Stanford). In SCRAM they run afoul of a no-nonsenses judge as vagrants, and end up getting drunk in his home, wearing his pajamas and clothes, while apparently playing house with his wife. There are plenty of other examples - even the scene in BABES IN TOYLAND (a fantasy mind you) where the boys are found guilty of trying to burglarize Barnaby's (Henry Kleinbach's) home, and are dunked as a result.Therefore, THE MIDNIGHT PATROL is quite unique in that Stan and Ollie are now members of the town police force. And they are just as incompetent here as as when they sold that hooch in PARDON US. Driving around in their patrol car, they manage to get their tires stolen. They confront Charlie Hall in a jewelry store robbing it, and only belatedly realize he is not the owner. What follows is particularly amusing and surreal. The boys can't find the time to bring Hall in to the precinct for booking, and ask him to turn himself in the next day. The problem is that Hall (checking his schedule in a pocket record book) finds he can't do it, because he is planning a robbery on that date. They manage to find a date shortly afterward.They are sent to investigate an address where a person was seen by neighbors (it is nighttime, after all) who may be a burglar. In the course of checking this tip off, the boys manage to have a variety of mishaps reminiscent of their problems (a year before) in their Oscar winning short THE MUSIC BOX (particularly Ollie's mishaps with a bench and a fountain). They do get the mysterious person - who turns out to be less mysterious then they expected - and far more dangerous than anyone expected. I won't say anymore than that.Despite a type of downer conclusion, the film is quite a funny one, and among the best of their talkie shorts.

bob the moo Laurel and Hardy are police officers on the night shift patrol. They get a call about a robbery, only to find that two men are trying to steal the spare wheel from their car. They get past this to find they have forgotten the address. Laurel goes to find a phone to ring the station but gets involved in a safe cracking. When they eventually get to the address of the reported robbery things go from bad to worse.Opening with a rolling title sequence, this short made me think I had walking into the wrong screen, however, despite the gritty noir opening, this is Laurel and Hardy. The actual plot is filled out by several scenes on their way to the robbery, before eventually getting to the scenes of them trying to get into the house. All of these work quite well and all scenes make good use of their physical comedy skills – the scenes involving a locked door and a pond being the best.The low point of the film is the final shot (literally!) which is probably the worst judged ending of any short of theirs I've seen. Basically the film ends with the Police Commissioner borrowing a gun, firing two shorts at the backs of our fleeing heroes and then saying `call the morgue'. I was waiting for the final short of L&H holding their backsides in pain or something, but no, so the end of the film sees them shot dead! I couldn't help feel that this was totally against the idea of the comedy that had gone before.Laurel and Hardy both do good work and make the physical stuff look easier than it really is. The support cast of criminals are amusing – although the tyre thieves are just tough, the safe cracker has his share of disbelieving double takes.Overall this is an amusing little short. The major downside here is the fact that the ending leaves a sour taste and is very badly done.

The_Movie_Cat WARNING: REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS There are superb stunts, Stan pulling some of his most gormless expressions, and an absolutely hysterical brick throwing competition. There are also some surreal gags, like the police headquarters several blocks away radioing their car to tell them their spare tyre is being stolen.The timing of the duo is impeccable, and even the opening titles – the credits being swished from side to side by a car windscreen wiper as it races through city streets – are excellent. Perhaps the only sticking point is that, while usually more suited to the shorter length pictures, this Stan and Ollie film ends a little abruptly, with a rather sick ending that sees them being murdered. Still it's a minor issue, and doesn't really get in the way of what is tremendous fun.