The Music Box was directed by James Parrott, produced by Hal Roach and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and it's one of the longer shorts for its time.
The film is a partial remake of their 1927 silent short Hats Off, which was filmed at the same location and is today considered a lost film. Hats Off was itself remade in the same location in a film called It's Your Move starring Edgar Kennedy in 1945. But the inspiration to build a comedy around those steps apparently came to producer Hal Roach even before Hats Off.
Although The Music Box won the first Academy Award for Live Action Short Film (Comedy) in 1932. This little classic is generally regarded as the Stan&Ollie's best film.
The Laurel & Hardy Moving Co. have a challenging job: hauling a player piano up a monumental flight of stairs to Prof. von Schwarzenhoffen's house. Their task is complicated not only by a sassy nursemaid and the impatient Prof. von Schwarzenhoffen himself, but also by the force of gravity, which repeatedly pulls the piano back down to the bottom of the stairs.
What could have been one joke repeated over and over to the point of monotony, became, instead, a comic fugue with innovative variations. Stan and Ollie labor with a mighty effort but obtain minimal results: the beauty lies in watching the team work out one hilarious routine after another.
This film is slapstick of a very high level, born of the utmost frustration.
You can buy Laurel & Hardy (Sons of the Desert/The Music Box/Another Fine Mess/Busy Bodies/County Hospital)
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