Saps at Sea Reviews

This was the last film Laurel and Hardy made with Hal Roach before breaking away in the name of artistic freedom, but things didn't go as planned for the successful comic duo. They were also separated from several of the many actors, such as James Finlayson and Charlie Hall, who added life to their features. SAPS AT SEA is an uneven picture. In one sense, it offers some of the duo's most ingenuous routines, but, when the four writers fail to come up with a good gag, the comedy lapses into forced slapstick. Thin plot has Laurel and Hardy as employees at a horn manufacturing company, their jobs being to test the horns. When Hardy suffers a nervous breakdown because of all the noise, Doc Finlayson suggests a quiet cruise. Since Hardy is afraid of water, they settle for staying in a small boat docked securely at the harbor. They're adrift very soon, however, when an escaped convict, Cramer, sneaks on board and sets them out to sea. Cramer takes over the ship and forces the boys to become his servants. The saving grace is Hardy's temper tantrums at the sound of a horn, one of which Laurel just happens to have aboard. Hardy knocks Cramer cold, then ends up in jail himself after displaying to the police the tactics he used in apprehending the prisoner. One of the highlights is the dinner of shoestrings, lamp-wicks, and other odds and ends Laurel and Hardy put together to serve Cramer when there is no food on the ship.