Now Over 5500 Reviews and (near) Daily Updates!

WELCOME! Use the search engines on this site (or your own off-site engine of choice) to gain easy access to the complete MAKSQUIBS Archive; more than 5500 posts and counting. (New posts added every day or so.)

You can check on all our titles by typing the Title, Director, Actor or 'Keyword' you're looking for in the Search Engine of your choice (include the phrase MAKSQUIBS) or just use the BLOGSPOT.com Search Box at the top left corner of the page.

Feel free to place comments directly on any of the film posts and to test your film knowledge with the CONTESTS scattered here & there. (Hey! No Googling allowed. They're pretty easy.)

Send E-mails to MAKSQUIBS@yahoo.com . (Let us know if the TRANSLATE WIDGET works!) Or use the Profile Page or Comments link for contact.

Thanks for stopping by.

Monday, May 26, 2008

THE MUSIC BOX (1932)

A solid thirty minutes of bliss as Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy attempt to deliver a player piano to a man who loathes the instrument in this updated take on the myth of Sisyphus. The director, James Parrott, makes a stunningly poor camera angle choice that de-emphasizes the incline of the stairs the boys have to negotiate & the original film elements haven’t been well preserved, but nothing can do much to lessen the brilliant comic team-play on view here. It's a pity that too many people only know the boys from their later/lesser features. Their best work can be found in their late silent & early sound shorts. Laurel was undoubtedly the force behind the camera, but Ollie certainly holds his own in front of it. Hilarious, treasurable, priceless.

No comments: