''The Midnight Patrol'' is a short American

pre-Code Pre-Code Hollywood was the brief era in the American film industry between the widespread adoption of sound in film in 1929LaSalle (2002), p. 1. and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines, popularly known ...

comedy film starring Laurel and Hardy released August 3, 1933.

Plot

Laurel and Hardy play two policemen on night patrol, hence the title. They are given instructions to investigate a reported break-in but in the process of gathering the details from HQ they stumble upon a would be thief who is attempting to crack the safe of a small store. Laurel mistakes him for the store owner, even going so far as to give assistance in the safe cracking, when Hardy enters to see what is keeping Laurel the boys manage to work out that the thief is not the store owner and rather than arrest him, order him to appear in court at a date to suit the criminal. The boys head back to their car only to find the same thief attempting to steal it, angered Hardy insists that he must 'appear Tuesday' after all (a day the criminal is planning a bank robbery). On arriving at the alleged crime scene the audience sees that the case is that the owner of the mansion got locked out and so there is no actual robber or robbery at the location. The boys, however, are unaware of this and attempt to break down the front door and eventually manage to succeed with great effort, having causing a great deal of damage to the property they proceed to arrest the owner of the property who they perceive to be the robber. The boys bring the suspect in to great praise by their colleagues, but the real identity of the 'robber' soon becomes apparent as the other officers recognize him as the

Chief of Police Chief may refer to: Title or rank Military and law enforcement * Chief master sergeant, the ninth, and highest, enlisted rank in the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Space Force * Chief of police, the head of a police department * Chief of the b ...

. Realizing their error Hardy explains that they are 'new', the Chief seemingly does not accept this excuse and as the boys flee off-screen he opens fire. The other officers then remove their hats indicating that deaths have occurred and the Chief says "send for the coroner".

Cast

Notes

* This is one of only two Laurel & Hardy films where the boys end up

deceased Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

. * The Stoke-on-Trent Laurel & Hardy tent of the '' Sons of the Desert'', the world's biggest Laurel and Hardy fan organization, is named 'The Midnight Patrol Tent' in honour of this film, as well as the

San Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...

tent. * The two cars featured in the movie are the 1927 Cadillac Standard Line for the police car and 1925 Chevrolet Superior for the street thugs.Internet Movie Car Database
/ref> * This is one of the very few Laurel and Hardy films to feature an

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

character in form of the butler of the Police Chief, portrayed by an uncredited Al Corporal. There were also supposed to be additional scenes where

Louise Beavers Louise Beavers (March 8, 1902 – October 26, 1962) was an American film and television actress. From the 1920s until 1960, she appeared in dozens of films and two hit television shows. She was most often cast in the roles of a maid, servant ...

plays a maid, which were deleted.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Midnight Patrol, The 1933 films 1933 comedy films American black-and-white films American comedy short films Films directed by Lloyd French Laurel and Hardy (film series) Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer short films 1930s police comedy films 1930s English-language films 1930s American films