Just Rambling Along (1918)

The police prefer child thieves over adult ones

Directed by Hal Roach
Starring Stan Laurel, Clarine Seymour, Noah Young
Produced by Rolin Films

Have you ever listened to a band on the radio and thought "They sound like my favorite band, but they're missing some of the soul."?  No matter how hard they try to sound like the Rolling Stones, U2, [your name here], they just miss that bit of originality that makes the great bands great.

That's how I felt watching this.

Stan Laurel is the star, but he seems focused on doing a Charlie Chaplin impression.  He has the baggy pants.  He has the facial expressions.  He has the fidgeting with his hat.

But somehow, it just never all comes together.

The story (as in many comedy shorts) is inconsequential.  Laurel and a boy notice an abandoned wallet full of money.  The man attempts to take the wallet, but thinks better of it when the boy's policeman father intervenes.  Laurel then follows a woman into a restaurant with a dozen other potential suitors,but is quickly evicted when he cannot produce any money.  Soon, he is back to tricking the boy out of a little change so he can woo his dream girl.

The story is designed to get Laurel from gag to gag, but he never inhabits the space in between. He just moves from one set-up to another, never engaging with the tale or the other actors.  There's a moment where a waiter is insistent on taking his hat that made me smile, but other than that, there's not a laugh to be found.

Worse, Laurel is completely unsympathetic.  He impersonates a robber to steal money from a young boy at faux gunpoint.  He steals food from the restaurant when the chef's back is turned and asks to sample meals he has no intention of buying.  Contrast this with the numerous films that find Chaplin considering stealing from the collection plate, but never following through.  For someone determined to imitate Chaplin, he seems to have completely missed the character's appeal.

Laurel here has not found his own voice.  He's aping a better comedian and not doing a great job of it. The film is mercifully short (less than 10 minutes), but even at that length I can't recommend to any but a Laurel and Hardy completist.

Watched on YouTube