Laurel & Hardy would go on to accomplish great things in the fields of black comedy and the gothic. Starting here. Judge Finlayson (who else?) condemns a monster with bad teeth for the multiple homicide of various Chinese people. However, the criminal escapes and swears vengeance. The delicate task of defending the judge falls to detectives Stan and Oliver, introduced with hard-hitting close-ups, which are clearly parodic. Obviously, they are actually irredeemable cowards scared by their own shadows when passing a cemetery. In any case, the killer pretends to be a butler and roams the house of the man who sentenced him brandishing a knife. There is also a scimitar – and glimpses of a roving corpse minus its head. All very entertaining. According to the encyclopaedist Glenn Mitchell, in this film our heroes wore their characteristic outfits for the first time, including the bowler hats which, at the time, real detectives typically wore. On the subject of headgear, it is worth noting that it is also the first instance of the duo’s so-called “hat-switching routine”, which was apparently invented by Leo McCarey.

Andrea Meneghelli