Two Tars

Two Tars
Theatrical poster
Directed by James Parrott
Produced by Hal Roach
Written by Leo McCarey (story)
H.M. Walker (titles)
Starring Stan Laurel
Oliver Hardy
Cinematography George Stevens
Edited by Richard C. Currier
Distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date
  • November 3, 1928 (1928-11-03)
Running time
 21 min.
Country United States
Language Silent film
English (Original intertitles)

Two Tars is a Laurel and Hardy short film, directed by James Parrott and released in 1928. A silent film, it largely consists of a 'reciprocal destruction' involving motorists in a traffic jam, which has much inventive mayhem with the destruction of various automobiles.

Plot

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy play two sailors on shore leave. They are driving a rented automobile. With Laurel at the wheel, he nearly crashes the car into a pedestrian at a street corner. Oliver apologizes for Stan's poor driving, takes the wheel, and shortly thereafter crashes the car into a lamppost. Chagrined, Oliver drives off and parks in front of a drugstore where two young ladies are having difficulty: They are trying to deal with a street-side vending machine that has taken their penny without giving them a gumball. Oliver tries to shake a gumball from the dispenser but only ends up breaking the glass container, scattering gumballs all over the sidewalk. As Oliver tries to collect as many of the wayward gumballs as possible, the angry proprietor emerges from the store to confront him. When the confrontation gets physical, Stan tries to intervene, but he constantly slips on the gumballs still scattered on the sidewalk. The girls come to their rescue and rough up the proprietor, accidentally breaking another gumball machine in the process. Some time later Stan and Oliver are shown in the car with the two girls, presumably after spending a pleasant afternoon together. They have exchanged hats. They are driving along a crowded road where a traffic jam has occurred near a construction sight because a car has run out of gas. Stan and Oliver try to bypass the jam but end up creating more congestion. When a trailing car accidentally bumps the boys' rental vehicle, the girls insist they take revenge. This action leads to a chain reaction of numerous drivers and passengers battling one another and deliberately damaging their automobiles. Eventually a motorcycle policeman arrives and is told that Stan and Oliver were the instigators of the fracas. The girls stealthily bolt from the vehicle and Stan and Oliver flee the scene pursued by about a dozen other cars. All the cars eventually drive into a railroad tunnel--and must make a hasty retreat in reverse as a train is approaching from the opposite direction. The movie ends with Stan and Oliver's car emerging from the tunnel considerably narrower than it once was, presumably because it was pinned against the tunnel wall by the huge train.

Cast

Production

One of the most elaborate silent comedy shorts, "Two Tars" was filmed as a three reel comedy originally called "Two Tough Tars" and edited to two reels. The opening scenes were shot on Main Street in Culver City, and the car battle scenes were filmed in Santa Monica along what is now Centinela Boulevard.

The Sons of the Desert

Chapters — called Tents — of The Sons of the Desert, the international Laurel and Hardy Appreciation Society, all take their names from L&H films. There are four Two Tars Tents in Solingen, Germany; Guernsey, Channel Islands; North Illinois/Wisconsin Border; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A fifth Two Tars Tent was established in Reidsville, North Carolina, but is no longer active.

References


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