Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

SunnyHello Nice effects though.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Roman Sampson One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Horst in Translation (filmreviews@web.de) "The Hoose-Gow" is an American 19-minute live action short film from 1929, so this one will have its 90th anniversary next year. It is one of the earlier sound films starring Laurel and Hardy and it is a black-and-white film of course too. Don't be fooled by versions out there that include color, which was added later on, but to me did not have a positive impact on the film. Like several other Stan and Ollie works, this one here was made by the unluckily short-lived Parrott and Walker and our duo of "heroes" here ends up arrested and at jail. But they are not really behind bars here, but basically doing prison labor on the outside where they are causing more harm to each other and t o the guards of course than really to any of the other inmates. I have seen quite a few Stan and Ollie shorts and this one simply wasn't funny enough for me to say it is among the better ones. The element of effortlessness, which is so strong in many of their works, feels missing almost entirely here, it all seems so forced, almost try-hard. At times, this one reminded me a bit of a Three Stooges short film in terms of the plot and general approach and as I am not the biggest fan of the trio by any means, this should not be seen as a compliment. So yeah, I wanted this one to be better. It's not even among the better works from Laurel and Hardy's sound film period. Do not watch.

hausrathman Despite their protestations of innocence, Laurel and Hardy find themselves on a prison working on a prison road crew where they make a shambles of an inspection visit by the governor."The Hoose-gow" was Laurel & Hardy's sixth talkie short and a step in the right direction in recovering the energy and verve of their best silent shorts. Shot almost entirely outdoors, this film doesn't have the claustrophobic, studio-bound feel that hindered some of their earlier talkies. The sound mix must have had some level of sophistication. Look at some of the road crew scenes. The wind is whipping up the branches on some of bushes right behind them. With the microphones of the time, that dialogue must've been unusable. The dubbing was fine.The plot of the film is simple but serviceable. Nothing new, but nice. It works its way to a nice, rice throwing battle, which, if not on the level of "Two Tars" or "Big Business," is certainly adequate. The supporting cast is good, featuring the always reliable Tiny Sanford and James Finlayson. Not a classic, but worth watching. Up to this point, their best talkie with the possible exception of "Men O'War."

Theo Robertson As some people have already pointed out on this page THE HOOSE GOW isn`t by any means the best of the L&H shorts , and when I saw it last week BBC 2 made the error of showing it after THE LAUREL AND HARDY MURDER CASE which is my all time Stan and Ollie short Not to be too negative the action starts with a van arriving at a prison and thus we arrive at the start of the story . This is a better opening than a few other of these shorts where Stan and Ollie bumble around for a few minutes in a scene that has nothing to do with the rest of the story . I could be cruel and point out the character interaction is somewhat confusing since a fellow prisoner tries to get Stan and Ollie out of the clink then plays a practical joke on them with the warders table , but like I said that would be cruel and when you stop to think about it maybe the worst thing that could happen to someone in the American penal system in the 1920s is having Stan and Ollie as cellmates . Imagine Chris Keller and Vern Shillinger from OZ walked into this Laurel and Hardy story !

Ron Oliver A LAUREL & HARDY Comedy Short. Stan & Ollie have finally gotten themselves thrown into THE HOOSE-GOW. Having failed miserably in an escape attempt, they find themselves assigned to a road gang - digging ditches. Creating havoc all around them, the Boys even manage to assault the visiting State Governor, eventually involving prisoners, guards & VIP's in a frantic free-for-all with handfuls of boiled rice.This early talkie is rather unpolished in construction, but Stan & Ollie are always fun to watch. Slapstick humor abounds, especially in the finale. James Finlayson plays the Governor.