Thicker Than Water

Laurel and Hardy Two-reeler. The henpecked husband was a frequent theme. And why not? Big as Ollie was, he had no real violence in him. For all his bluster he could be bossed around by anyone in the world except poor clueless Stanley, so it makes perfect sense that his wife, about a third his size, terrifies him. Here he has lost the money that should have gone for rent, and has to find a scheme to get it back. There is a lovely bit of business whereby, when he is leaving a scene, he reaches up and grabs something at the edge of the frame and pulls a ‘wipe” across the screen, with the next scene already playing on it.

Later, Stanley tries the same thing, loses his grip and the next scene rolls back like a window shade rolling up. He has to go back and grab it again. I loved it.