Walter Woolf King

A man convicted of murdering a wealthy businessman must rely on the victim's wife and a crooked lawyer to uncover the truth before he is executed.

Dr. Christian reunites a music teacher, a maestro and their violin-prodigy son.

Mousetrap salesmen visit Switzerland where they run into difficulties with a disagreeable gorilla and a tyrannical chef at a Tyrolean hotel. The film features a romantic subplot with opera singers Walter Woolf King from Broadway (and the Marx Brothers’ A NIGHT AT THE OPERA) and Della Lind from Vienna (later a neighbor of Laurel’s at his Oceana Hotel residence in Santa Monica during the 1960s). Eric Blore from the Astaire-Rogers pictures adds just the right note. Many individual scenes are notable, including where Stan feigns illness and creates a “snowstorm” to trick a St. Bernard dog into giving up his keg of brandy. Expensive production values (as demanded by Laurel in his new contract) befitting a picturesque spectacle, including location shooting at Stone Canyon and Lake Arrowhead, contributed to a huge financial loss, the worst in the studio’s history to date. Laurel’s private life was in shambles at the time, and in a key disagreement with Roach, he failed to see the wisdom in some editing The Boss ordered. It was during a swaying trestle bridge scene involving a piano and that certain gorilla, a sequence made famous by noted critic James Agee’s celebration of it. Directed by John G. Blystone. With Anita Garvin, persuaded by Laurel to return to the company.

The Marz Brothers apply their schtick to the Old West. They run rings around each other and chase bad guys, culminating in a hilarious train chase sequence.