A short film that contains two significant developments as far as the comedies the duo made for producer Hal Roach are concerned. Not only does Hardy cast his first, unmistakeable glance into the camera, reinforcing the relationship between the comedian and his public as much as Larry Semon, Buster Keaton and Harold Lloyd had done, but he also shares the same amount of screen time as Laurel for the first time. The premise is absurd, wacky and delightful: Stan is a taxi driver who embarks (with his taxi) on a ship full of millionaires, while Oliver is the ship steward whose attempts to flirt with the rich ladies are routinely sabotaged by Stan’s unwanted presence. None of these devices would be remotely plausible without the two imposters played by Gustav Schaffrath and the magnificent Anita Garvin, while the rest of the female cast is comprised of the cream of silent film stars (Dorothy Coburn, Viola Richard, Lupe Vélez). It is a film of concentrated slapstick, which also marks a significant refinement of our antiheroes’ personae and act.

Alessandro Criscitiello