HABEAS CORPUS (1928)
Article 3134 by Dave Sindelar
Viewing Date: 12-26-2009
Posting Date: 3-14-2010
Directed by Leo McCarey and James Parrott
Featuring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Richard Carle
Country: USA
What it is: Classic comedy with macabre overtones

A mad professor hires two panhandlers to procure him a body from the local cemetery.

It’s great to see another Laurel and Hardy short, and this marks the first of their silent shorts I’ve seen. It’s a fun idea to put these two in a Burke-and-Hare scenario; even though some of the humorous content is obvious (Stan is scared), it’s still timed so well it works. Still, despite the visual gags, my favorite moment is a verbal (albeit in title cards) one in which Hardy reassures Laurel about the sanity of the professor. There’s a man disguised as a ghost and a bat to add to the horror content.