Popular reviews

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  Review by theironcupcake ★★★

  Ultimately, this is (in its dated way) akin to my personal manifesto of individualism: much like Ollie - with the all-time great character name "J. Piedmont Mumblethunder" - trying to force Stan to exchange the perceived femininity of a Scottish kilt for the supposed manliness of all-American trousers, anyone who tries to change my essential self will simply fall flat on their face in the proverbial mud puddle in the end.

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  Review by Sally Jane Black

  At times, it handles its humor around the perception of Philip poorly, but in the end, his uncle is the final butt of the joke, making his insecurities and standards the target rather than Philip's kilt. Still, not really that funny.

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  Review by Jim Dooley ★★★★½

  PUTTNG PANTS ON PHILIP is another one of the Laurel and Hardy 2-reel silent films that I purchased in Standard 8mm early in my film collecting journey. I have watched it many, many times ... and I still laughed myself silly today when I watched it again!

  Many comedies of the period (including some Laurel and Hardy comedies) derived humor from a male character forced to masquerade as a female. PUTTING PANTS ON PHILIP doesn't do that. Instead, it mines laughs from Philip (Laurel) wearing a traditional Scottish kilt as he visits his uncle (Hardy) in America. Unfortunately, wherever he goes, a man seen as "wearing a skirt" in public draws an immediate crowd ... and it is only enhanced…

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  Review by Rock 4

  Very jarring to see the boys play slightly different characters than usual. Almost as if they’re actors… in motion pictures…

  Thanks again to theironcupcake for her seemingly endless stream of Laurel and Hardy recommendations.

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  Review by Graham L. Carter

  Cahiers du Cinéma (Serge Daney & Louis Skorecki): We all particularly like one of those shorts: Putting Pants on Philip . . .

  Leo McCarey: That one I did entirely, it's my baby. I made it from beginning to end with no outside help at all. For no one wanted to make it, that one! As well as being the producer, the boss (and I had three other films on my hands), I had to direct it, telling myself that at least I would be popular with the tailors! And all the tailors in the world have laughed at this film. Briefly, the idea of the film pleased no one, from the beginning, and I was so furious that I closed…

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  Review by Jack Marinelli ★★

  I always get sad on days when I don't have enough time to watch a full movie. But that means I'm actually doing something with my life so I guess it's a good thing.

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  Review by Paul D ★★★

  An entire short predicated on the belief that a man wearing a skirt is hilarious. Which is pretty much correct.

  This is Stan and Ollie playing opposite one another, but not as the characters we have come to know and love. Stan is a Scottish immigrant, and Oliver his American cousin.

  And the joke is that everywhere Stan goes in his kilt, people follow him and a huge crowd forms, and that he's forever pursuing one particular woman, or as I believe you young people call them, a flapper, who is constantly crossing his path.

  A quarter of a century later would become an icon thanks to a voluminous dress and a subway grate, here the same thing happens to Stan, having previously lost his shorts. Off camera, I hasten to add.

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  Review by Niall Urquhart ★★★

  There wasn't a lot of Laurel & Hardy-ness here as it was clearly an early outing for them and it felt more like two individual performers rather than the familiar team. I'm actually surprised I enjoyed it as much as I did given that there were only two aspects to it - Americans laughing at a man in a kilt and a man in a kilt chasing a woman. But it did have a charm. Probably a lot of it was being shot on location and the extras seemed to be onlookers enjoying themselves. Ollie didn't have much to do until the end but Stan was great fun throughout.

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  Review by Howard Davis ★★★½

  I love this title. When I first saw it listed on the blu ray case I had so many questions. Who is Philip? Why does he not have pants? Is he unable to put on his own pants? As it turns out, Philip is a Scotsman come to the states to visit his Uncle. He causes quite the stir when he shows up in a kilt. His penchant for chasing attractive women around doesn't help matters any, causing much embarrassment for his Uncle J. Piedmont Mumblethunder. Lol...Good ol' Uncle Mumblethunder tries to get Philip to put on pants in hopes of having him fit in.

  And that's pretty much it. Stan plays Philip and Oliver plays the Uncle. Some fun gags. Nothing too elaborate here, but it is consistently amusing and a very enjoyable 20 minutes.

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  Review by Carlos Cano ★★★★

  Esta película la hice yo desde cero: es mi hija. La hice de principio a fin sin ninguna ayuda externa. Porque nadie quería hacerla. Aunque yo era el productor, el jefe en definitiva (y tenía otras tres películas entre manos), insistí en hacerla, ¡pensando que al menos sería popular entre los sastres! Y todos los sastres del mundo se rieron con la película. En resumen, al principio a nadie le gustó la idea de esta película, y yo estaba tan furioso por ello que cerré mi oficina y fui al plató yo mismo con Laurel y Hardy (hacía tiempo que no dirigía nada, y ni siquiera había tenido la oportunidad de ir a un plató): así que escribí y dirigí esta película en unos seis días. Me alegro de que os guste: es una de mis favoritas, y Laurel también la considera una de sus mejores.

  Leo McCarey

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  Review by Jim Beaver ★★★★

  This is the film about which Stan Laurel said he first realized that he and Oliver Hardy had become a team. They're still not quite the "Stan & Ollie" we know from countless later films, but their work together is still a crystal-clear education in comedy.

  Instead of the old pals of most of their films, in this one, Stan is Ollie's nephew Philip from Scotland, a dopey rube who shows up in America wearing a kilt and chasing every female in a skirt he sees. His kilt is such a novelty in America, it seems, that people crowd around him and block traffic every time he's spotted on the street. So uncle J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Hardy) decides to put pants…

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  Review by Kim Z. ★★★½

  Laurel plays a scottish lad visiting America. Hardy plays the american person that has to show him the ways in America. This is a fun early entry! Not the trademark Laurel and Hardy but very fun anyway.