The rear screen projection used on the drive home wasn't up to snuff. The car driven by Stan Laurel appeared to almost be on top of other cars, should have hit other cars, or be driving the opposite direction. Except for the drive home, I thought this was a really good L&H short.
shareOh, it's absolutely the WORST rear screen work ever, except maybe the elk scene in THE FATAL GLASS OF BEER. I still find them both funny because of their (lack of) quality!
shareI agree, that ride home just keeps going on and on and on. It stopped being funny after about the first 20 seconds. For one of the best chase scenes from that era, catch the one in W.C. Fields "Never give a sucker an even break"
shareI think the back projection was deliberately bad as to add to the fun.although it did go on for too long.
shareI won't disagree about the technical quality of the rear-screen projection, but I have to admit that I'm glad the scene lasts as long as it does. The longer it continues, the more we get to see of L.A. in its glory days. All the Pacific Electric streetcars, all the old stores! Getting to glimpse such precious slices of urban history is one of the reasons why I enjoy those old movies so much.
But yes, the erratic drive to the maternity hospital at the end of "Never Give a Sucker an Even Break" is definitely in another technical class entirely!
I agree with what others are saying here. I just watched County Hospital again today (I've seen it many times), and right up to the car ride home, I think the short works beautifully. The awful rear-screen projection really hurts the film. It is fun to watch for the scenes of Great Depression-era Los Angeles. But other than that, the scenes marred what could've been a Stan and Ollie masterpiece. What made Never Give a Sucker an Even Break work so well was the seamless blending of real car chase scenes with the rear-projection scenes. The sequence was so successful that Universal re-used it (!) in an Abbott and Costello scene, In Society. It worked perfectly in Sucker, not so well in Society.
"You can dish it out, but you got so you can't take it no more." - Caesar Enrico Bandello
I must confess, the back projection is SOOOO bad (even for the early 30's) I kind of assumed it was done for comic effect. I mean come on - at one point the cars gliding down the street sideways. I think people saying it "spoils the film" are missing the joke here.
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