Series: All Stars w/Laurel & Hardy Director: Fred L. Guiol Producer: Hal Roach Titles: H.M. Walker Photography: Floyd Jackman Editor: Richard C. Currier Stars: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Madeline Hurlock Company: Pathé Exchange Released: 20 March 1927 Length: 2 reels Production No.: S-14 Filming dates: September 20 - October 2, 1926 Rating: 5/10

Duck Soup

Available on BLU-RAY & DVD:

Hot-blooded Colonel Blood (JAMES A. MARCUS) is about to embark on another one of his hunting trips, leaving his servants in charge of the large house. Elsewhere, two vagrants are sitting on a park bench, with Hives (STAN LAUREL) reading a comic section of a newspaper whilst his buddy Maltravers (OLIVER HARDY) reads the news section. Accordingly, owing to a recent spread of forest fires in the area, five thousand men are needed to be recruited to tackle the problem. The ranger (BOB KORTMAN) approaches their bench and the two men quickly make their excuses to leave abruptly. They escape on a conveniently placed bicycle which has been left by the side of the road but are pursued by the ranger and his men. Hives and Maltravers ditch their broken bike when they reach the large house owned by the colonel and run inside a conveniently open door to hide. When the servants leave, Hives finds a note tacked to the front door which confirms the house will be vacant over the weekend and that the house is being offered for renting. Unbeknownst to them, the owner of the house is already on his way back home when a newlywed couple arrive at the house to rent it. The quick-thinking Maltravers states that he will pose as the master of the house, whilst he orders Hives to be his maid named Agnes! Lord and Lady Tarbotham are invited into the house.

Maltravers greets the couple, Lord and Lady Tarbotham, and they sit down on the sofa. Agnes brings his master a chair and he too is seated (at the second attempt). The gentleman guest asks if the Colonel has a billiards table? Maltravers confirms that he has and leads him off to find it whilst Agnes is invited to join the lady guest on the sofa. Upstairs, Maltravers is showing his guest around, still looking for that billiards room, when he is once again reminded by the ranger's presence lurking outside the window. He finally admits he cannot find the billiards room, but it is ok - Tarbotham doesn't play anyway! Lady Tarbotham asks Agnes to be shown bathroom/bedroom, where she decides to get undressed and take a bath. The flustered Agnes hides in the bathroom as she undresses. Colonel Blood is on his way home whilst Maltravers is packing pretty much the entire house into his suitcase - to the shock of Lord Tarbotham, who is even asked to jump on the case to try and close it shut! The colonel arrives on the doorstep but is told by Agnes that the house has already been rented. The colonel forces his way past the fake maid just as Maltravers is snapping his beloved bow and arrow so as to fit it into one of the many trunks he is packing. Agnes sees that the Colonel is about to blow his stack and quickly shoves him in a nearby closet. Maltravers explains to the would-be tenants that the man is deranged before the Colonel breaks free and is confronted by Lord Tarbotham. A chase around the house with the Colonel firing his gun aimlessly, even at the removal man who has turned up, ends when Stan's cover is blown by his maid's uniform being ripped on a nail. The forest rangers have tracked the two vagrants to the house and press them into fire fighting duty.

Favourite bit Colonel Blood is an ill-tempered man. Locking him in his own closet is not advisible. But Stan, dressed as the housemaid Agnes does it, much to his regret. The Colonel kicks the door from the inside so hard that his boot connects with Stan and sends him flying across the room - straight into the arms of Hardy.

Trivia • Remade in 1930 as Another Fine Mess. • Copyrighted January 13, 1927. • The scenes with Stan and Ollie in the park were filmed in Westlake Park, Los Angeles (later renamed MacArthur Park). • Based on a sketch 'Home From The Honeymoon' written in 1908 by Stan's father Arthur J. Jefferson, Stan wrote the screenplay to the film. It was 19 pages long and left little room for improvisation. • The scene where Bob Kortman posing as the ranger trying to recruit the unwilling public into joining up for service was later re-used in Pack Up Your Troubles  in a memorable scene with co-star Tom Kennedy. • The film was considered lost until 1974. • There are 42 intitertitle cards in the film. There are 2 extra in the prints containing the bathroom scene. In addition to this, there are 2 more cards in the revised Michael Agee print, making a total of 46. In the image showing all the title cards, I have lined them up in continuity. There are blacked-out spaces in the sections where additional cards are placed in the other prints. There are seven soldiers depicted in the painting which Colonel Blood ends up wearing. • When we first see Stan and Ollie sitting on the bench, Stan is wearing a bowler hat and Ollie a top hat. • There is a lake to the left of the bench. This can be seen when the camera is on the side shot of the boys as the ranger comes over to them when Ollie lights his cigar. • In the Kirch print, Ollie refers to Stan as "Hives", but in the Lost DVD print he calls him "Stanley". In the original script Stan Laurel's character was called "James Hives". • There is a water hose spraying the grass in the background behind the park bench where Stan and Ollie are sitting. • When Stan and Ollie take to the bicycle which is parked at the side of the road, there is a railroad crossing in the background. • Depending on which print of the film you see, Stan confesses it is his first time on a bicycle and then calls Ollie "sir" which would indicate the two men are not friends but rather, strangers. We simply see them as friends because they are sitting together on the park bench at the beginning. • Just as Stan and Ollie ride their bicycle to the bottom of the hill the Key West Hotel can be seen on the right of the screen (behind the two buses that park in the center of the road). • By the time the boys dismount the bicycle, if you look carefully you can see that the back wheel is completely wrecked! • The Colonel lives at number 2505. The number on the front of the train he is travelling on is 1574. • When Ollie reads the note tacked to the front door he clearly mouths the name "Hives" to Stan. Yet the title cards on some prints completely ignore this. • In the intertitle cards, the Kirch print refers to the newlyweds as the Tarbotham's and the Lost DVD print refers to them as the Plumtree's. • When the newleyweds ring the doorbell, as they wait outside, Ollie comes to the door and looks through the hatch. It is on the extreme left of the frame and almost missable, but you can just see his head. • When Ollie catches Stan after the Colonel has kicked him flying across the hallway there are no cuts in the film when Stan lands in Ollie's arms. That is a good show of strength there from Hardy. My opinion • The first film in which Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy appeared together for Hal Roach is a mediocre outing, memorable for the one scene which is missing from most prints! When originally reviewing this film I was so exhausted in trying to grab all the intertitle cards from the various prints I have. It's a film I never want to see again - ever!

	Madeline Hurlock Lady Tarbotham
	Stan Laurel James Hives/ Agnes
	Oliver Hardy Marmaduke Maltravers / fake Colonel Blood
	James A. Marcus Colonel Blood
	William Austin Lord Tarbotham
	Bob Kortman Forest ranger McFidget
	Harry Arras Ranger
	William Courtright Colonel Blood's butler
	Laura La Varnie Colonel Blood's maid
	Charles Lloyd Vagrant/Train passenger
	Chet Brandenburg Train passenger/ Stunt
	Clara Guiol Train passenger
	Leon Rey Train passenger
	Harry Bowen Train passenger
	J.J. Clayton Train passenger/ Vagrant
	Evelyn Burns Train passenger
	Al Flores Train passenger
	Clarence Morehouse Train passenger
	Lester Chelini Train passenger
	J. Goodwin Train passenger
	Leota Winters Train passenger
	Phoebe Rudd Train passenger
	Chase McDonald Train passenger
	Bert Apling Train conductor
	Bobby Dunn Removal van man
	Ed Brandenburg Car driver/ Train passenger/ Stunts
	Elsie Rose Byrne Train passenger
	Bess Wade Train passenger
	Jane Tallent Train passenger
	UNIDENTIFIED Train passenger #1
	UNIDENTIFIED Train passenger #2
	UNIDENTIFIED Train passenger #3
	UNIDENTIFIED Ranger

INTERTITLES (click image to enlarge)

POSTERS (click any image to enlarge)

GLASS SLIDE (click any image to enlarge)

SHOT ON THE BACK LOT (click any image to enlarge)

SHOT ON LOCATION (click any image to enlarge)

INTERIOR SHOTS (click any image to enlarge)

STILLS (click any image to enlarge)

RISQUE (click any image to enlarge)

Acknowledgements: Laurel And Hardy - The Magic Behind The Movies by Randy Skretvedt (book) Robin Cook (identification of Laura La Varnie, Chet Brandenburg, Charles Lloyd, Clara Guiol, Bobby Dunn) Steve Phillips (DVD notes) Jim Dallape (Back Lot Tour images) Robert Demoss (information relating to additional actors) Jesse Brisson (identification of Al Flores, Leon Rey, JJ Clayton, Harry Arras, Clarence Morehouse, Lester Chelini, J. Goodwin, Chase McDonald, Phoebe Rudd, Leota Winters, Bert Apling) Lord Heath (identification of Ed Brandenburg, Harry Bowen) *11 stills courtesy 'Laurel & Hardy - Year One: The Newly Restored 1927 Silents' Blu-Ray This page was last updated on: 30 September 2025