Mar 28th
Pardon Us** (U)
Manifest Theatre, Manningtree

US 1931. MGM/Hal Roach. 55m. bw

Two incompetent beer salesmen are sent to prison for bootlegging, escape for a time, but come good by foiling a jailbreak.
This comic duo's first (unofficial) excursion into feature films, which perhaps can explain why the film is so roughly made - expanding a standard two/three-reeler into something rather longer, with two attempted jailbreaks. But some of the set pieces are amusing, and the film is as good an example of the boys at play as any, and works as a star vehicle well enough.

Written by: H.M. Walker.
Producer: Hal Roach.
Director: James Parrott.
Starring: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Wilfred Lucas, James Finlayson, Walter Long, Tiny Sandford, Robert Kortman, Leo Willis, June Marlow.
Photography: Jack Stevens.

Preceded by:
The Second Hundred Years**
(US 1927. 20m. bw. silent; Two stir crazy convicts escape unwittingly back into the same prison as VIP guests.; w: H.M. Walker; d: Fred I. Guiol; s: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Dorothy Coburn.)

The Hoose Gow**
(US 1929. 20m. bw; More imprisoned antics, this time when Stan & Ollie get themselves caught into prison, and start a rice pudding riot!; w: Leo McCarey, H.M.Walker; d: James Parrott; s: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Tiny Sandford, James Finlayson, Leo Willis.)