Greg Smith asks about Laurel and Hardy shorts worth watching. Two early sound
films of special note are :
HELPMATES--full of slapstick, physical humor.
and
THEIR FIRST MISTAKE, maybe their best single short, I think. It begins with
Hardy's wife suing Laurel for alienation of affections. Laurel thinks the
Hardys need a baby to keep them together and suggests they adopt. Then
Ollie is on his own with the baby (and Stan). The nursing sequence is
jaw-dropping funny, with more pre-Code sexual subtexts than you can shake
a stick at.