richard.fuller1 Below Zero, to me, is one of the strongest depictions of life and existence at the offset of the depression. I have always remembered this program for its opening of these two guys very unimpressively playing their street music in the cold. There is truly something effective about the cold look. The snow looks its usual fake, but the stillness and immobility seems to be clear and the unpleasant mood brought about, especially with the depression having just started less than a year earlier. The program enters other territory, but ends with the guys outside in the cold, in an alley, in a sense, worse off than when they began. The final joke was always a bit lame to me, but had the entire program dealt with existence on the street in the ice and snow, instead of venturing into the restaurant, the program would have been superb. An academy award was a brand new novelty at this time. Had the guys received one here, they wouldn't have known what it was for. So often we get unhappiness during the depression from the woman's perspective or a child's, but this one is unique being from the guy, who are simply doing the best they can. the only way this program could have truly been richer would have been if Stan and Ollie were street cleaners. But wayward street musicians was definitely enough.

tavm In this one, the boys are musicians who have trouble attracting customers for two hours. After they decide to move, Ollie finds out why when he looks at the building's name. At their next stop, one woman pays a dollar to "move a couple of streets" while others throw snowballs. Then there's a real large woman who puts a kibosh on the whole thing by throwing the instruments in the street. So with no means of getting paid, Stan discovers a wallet on the ground. Before a thug threatens to take that away from them, a cop arrests him and gets offered dinner from the grateful boys. I'll stop there and mention that with this being in the early talkie era, there's a minimum of dialogue between Laurel and Hardy as most of their humor is still visual with the gradual slapstick building in fine form throughout the first 10 minutes before the more dramatic part with the cop comes in. But there's one freak ending that Stan especially is fond of that ends this short hilariously. So on that note, I highly recommend Below Zero. P.S. Look for L & H regulars Blanche Payson, Tiny Sandford, Baldwin Cooke and Charlie Hall in their supporting parts.

The_Movie_Cat While not their funniest film, Below Zero is perhaps one of Laurel and Hardy's most artistic. The victims of depression in a snowstorm, there's even a touch of Chaplin in certain elements. The short is still heavily indebted to the silent era, and all the better for it, inspiring greater pathos. The first, and most successful, half of the film contains less than twenty lines in over ten minutes of running time.Stan's completely gormless expression while playing the organ had me in stitches, as did the inanity of the music. His morbid fascination with the unfortunate and deformed sees them playing in front of a deaf and dumb institute and ending with his belly swollen and distended. In one of their most blatant displays of toilet humour, he also apparently mimes needing to go to the lavatory as the climax. Freudians would even have a field day with Ollie's phallic weapon, while there's also time for a joke about a blind man in there as well.The second half sees them find a wallet in the street, and treat a helpful policeman to a slap-up meal with the proceeds. Despite this being one of the Laurel and Hardy movies with the most integrity, make no mistake: it is also highly amusing. There's even touches of surrealism with Stan's multi-pocketed wallet, and, while scant, some clever wordplay. Recommended.

rsyung Although the subject of this short is particularly grim, I find myself constantly drawn to it. It has a certain minimalist attraction...very little dialogue and no underscoring(probably because of it being a relatively early sound subject and also so as not interfere with the boy's own music-making), and bleak and austere snow-driven sets. Stan and Ollie truly become victims of their dire circumstances and it is only the bizarre physical distortion at the end(Laurel was quite fond of such endings) that takes us out of our reality and back into theirs.