From soup to nuts
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''From Soup to Nuts'' is a silent
short subject A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...
directed by E. Livingston Kennedy starring comedy duo
Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in t ...
. It was released on March 24, 1928, by
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by amazon (company), Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded o ...
.


Plot

Stan and Ollie are hired as waiters at an upper class dinner party, with Ollie taking charge before entering the property . The maid shows them inside, where Stan puts their personal card on table with a collection of others. Visible on their card is the slogan, “All we ask is a chance”. A small fight breaks out between Ollie and Stan as a result of Ollie trying to keep Stan from putting his hat on inside the house. After the wife of the household inspects them she gets shown a notice apologizing that the only available waiters were the duo, where it is revealed on the paper that their previous experience in waiting was at railroad eating houses. Ollie comments to the wife's husband that she is “some wiggler!” and naturally, the husband is not impressed. The pair get ready to start work in the kitchen where Stan tells the chef (who is busy cooking) not to wear his hat. Stan takes it off him several times but the chef proceeds to keep putting it back on. Stan soon loses his cool and throws the chef's hat away. The chef retaliates by grabbing the nearest plate and smashing it over Stan's head. Stan does the same back to the chef and they carry on using plates as weapons until Ollie calms things down by stopping Stan from destroying a large, expensive looking plate. However, as Ollie walks off, he trips on the kitchen floor and smashes the plate, causing him to be embarrassed by the onlooking maid. Meanwhile, the party goes on, oblivious to the impending disaster awaiting them. The wife of the household isn't having an easy time either, as she struggles to eat her fruit cocktail with the cutlery provided. Her predicament carries on throughout the film. Stan and Ollie come into the room as they are about to start serving food. Stan manages to pour, what looks like soup, onto Ollie's foot while he counts the guests. Ollie begins carrying a very large cake to the table but slips on a banana skin left by the family dog and lands head first into the cake. Ollie manages to do this more than once in the film, much to the bemusement of the guests, and of Stan, who accuses him of falling over on purpose at one point. The pair spend most of the film falling down while trying to serve the food, much to the anger of the husband of the household. This is one of the first films to show Stan getting cross for once, as he loses his temper with Ollie's incompetence and with the guests. The wife then asks Ollie to serve the salad “undressed”. Ollie tells Stan to do this who, confused, heads to the kitchen to tell the maid what he has to do. The maid says, “I always serve it that way...”. Stan can't believe this but goes ahead and dresses down to his underwear to serve the salad. The film ends with the husband and wife discovering Stan undressed, and after a futile attempt by Ollie to put a jacket on Stan and ask, “How's that - perfect?”, Ollie gets hit by the wife and falls into yet another cake.


Cast


Production notes

''From Soup to Nuts'' was remade as the first 20 minutes of Laurel & Hardy's 1940 feature film ''
A Chump at Oxford ''A Chump at Oxford'' is a Hal Roach comedy film produced in 1939 and released in 1940 by United Artists. It was directed by Alfred J. Goulding and was the penultimate Laurel and Hardy film made at the Roach studio. The title echoes the film ''A ...
''.


References


External links

* * * {{Laurel and Hardy filmography 1928 films 1928 comedy films American silent short films American black-and-white films Laurel and Hardy (film series) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer short films Films with screenplays by H. M. Walker 1920s American films Silent American comedy films