Do Detectives Think? (1927) A Silent Film Review

Stan and Ollie were quickly solidifying the personality of their comedy when they made this detective film spoof with a heaping dose of slasher picture. It displays their signature blend of comedy with a dash of horror relief.

Home Media Availability: Released on Bluray.

Murder and Other Amusements

1927 was a year of discovery for the new comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. They had been paired as costars for the first time in Duck Soup, an early version of Another Fine Mess. This was followed by Slipping Wives, which had Hardy back in a fairly small supporting role, but the magic was undeniable and September to December of that year was a marathon with the Boys featured in two or three short films every month and, in the process, being designated an official comedy team.

(Laurel and Hardy had shared the screen as early as 1921 but Hardy’s role in The Lucky Dog was miniscule and Duck Soup can be rightly considered the team’s maiden voyage.)

Do Detectives Think? was the second Laurel and Hardy release of November 1927 and the team we know and love had nearly every signature element in place: celluloid collars and bowler hats, Stan’s sobs, Ollie’s pomposity and, most importantly of all, a flair for the macabre that added spice to many of their best short films.

Incidentally, the title of this short is a play on the then-current fad for using rhetorical questions as film titles: Why Change Your Wife? Are Parents People? and so forth, as well as the less concrete and more rhetorical Should a Woman Tell? What Price Glory? and Isn’t Life Wonderful? Theater owners would also advertise new films with bold questions to the audience on hot topics such as: “Should men receive alimony?” and “Should a woman continue masculine friendship after marriage?”

All of the comedy companies latched onto the trend and took to asking their own questions. Laurel and Hardy coworker and collaborator Charley Chase had the best ones, querying the audience Should Husbands Be Watched? Are Brunettes Safe? Isn’t Life Terrible? and What Price Goofy? The Boys were no slouches, though, and subsequently asked Should Married Men Go Home?

The picture opens with Judge Foozle (James Finlayson) sentencing the Tipton Slasher (Noah Young) to hang for murdering two men “seriously.” The Slasher vows to escape and murder the judge. Sure enough, he quickly breaks out and heads straight for the Foozle residence.

Judge Foozle is home with his wife (Viola Richard) and panics when he hears the Slasher is loose. He immediately calls for protection, the best detectives in the world! And we all know who they are going to be…

Ferdinand Finkleberry (Laurel) and Sherlock Pinkham (Hardy) are crack shots, except for not being able to hit anything they aim for, and fearless, except they are cowards. After some humorous antics in a graveyard, the fair arrive at the Foozle home. However, the Slasher has already infiltrated disguised as the new butler.

(By the way, Laurel and Hardy expanded on the graveyard antics a year later with Habeas Corpus.)

This picture isn’t really about the plot so much as the antics of the cast and I am delighted to report that the Boys, plus Finlayson, bring their A game.

One of the major differences between silent Laurel and Hardy and their sound iteration is the relative aggression of Stan. While he sobs and cries as expected here, he isn’t quite a pushover yet and will sometimes fight back against Ollie’s bullying. Ollie, meanwhile, has some of his mannerisms locked down but fans will likely miss his tie-fumbling and fluttery waving. Still, both comedians are game and clearly enjoying themselves as not-so-brave detectives. The closet gag near the end of the picture has a particularly well-timed punchline.

Finlayson is the third star of the film in both billing and screentime and he is marvelous. There is a very funny scene in which the Slasher believes he has cornered the judge in the bathroom but Finlayson evades him by submerging himself in bubble bath. He’s safe—until he accidentally unplugs the drain! You can practically hear the signature, Scottish-accented “D’oh!” in that sequence.

The cemetery scene is also amusing, with Stan literally afraid of his own shadow and a convenient goat providing a diabolical silhouette. It doesn’t move the story forward but it sets the mood, which is ultimately more important.

I am sure I have mentioned this many times, but I was raised on Laurel and Hardy films and watched them over and over again throughout my childhood. There’s so much to love about them but one aspect of the team’s humor that I think deserves more attention is their giddy embrace of the morbid and gruesome. From a faux haunting in The Live Ghost to a serial killer in Oliver the Eighth to to grave robbing in Habeas Corpus to an old dark house thriller in The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case, the team wasn’t afraid to go ominous.

Horror and comedy had been closely linked since before the rise of cinema and many horror elements, from homicidal barbers to cannibalism, can be found in their earliest form in comedies. (It’s also worth mentioning that much of this was drawn from British comedy tradition and Stan Laurel pulled heavily from the same source, often breathing new life into decades-old music hall skits with his inimitable skill as a writer and gagman.)

Many horror films have comedy relief to break the tension. Laurel and Hardy had horror relief to add a little zip to their comedy. Absolute legends.

Do Detectives Think? includes several classic slasher film elements, particularly the slow-walking killer. I admit to saying in jest (well, semi-jest) that Laurel and Hardy invented the slasher picture but silent comedy was almost always informed by more serious fare and the Killer in the Manor/Old Dark House genre was extremely popular.

For example, Cecil B. DeMille made The Ghost Breaker in 1914 and The Circular Staircase was made into a film the following year. The latter picture was later retooled as The Bat and adapted again in 1926 with Laurel and Hardy costar Arthur Housman in a supporting role. (I examine the history of the Old Dark House genre in my review of One Exciting Night, often erroneously cited as the first film of the trend.)

And, of course, these dark and stormy night affairs were themselves indebted to mystery plays, Grand Guignol theater and gothic novels in a churning mass of influences and references, ingredients that have always been a major part of the pop culture soup. It’s just a lot of fun to see the Hal Roach lot take that jalopy for a spin.

I mean, what can I say? I loved this picture. You get Stan and Ollie, plus Finlayson doing what he does best. It’s a good introduction to the silent work of Laurel and Hardy (I also recommend Duck Soup and You’re Darn Tootin’) as it displays most of their signature comedy devices but also features a more aggressive Stan. If you like their sound stuff, especially when they get a bit grisly, you are sure to enjoy this too. Plus, you can now say (in semi-jest, of course) that Laurel and Hardy invented the slasher film and what can be more entertaining than that?

Where can I see it?

Released on DVD as part of Flicker Alley’s wonderful new Laurel and Hardy Year One collection. Previously, the lack of high-quality silent Laurel and Hardy on home media has been a major hole in the history of comedy, so this collection’s release is extremely welcome. All hail the public domain! (The set also includes two of the pre-Duck Soup dual film appearances.)

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