- From Soup to Nuts
Infobox Film
name = From Soup to Nuts
caption = Theatrical poster for "From Soup to Nuts" (1928)
director =Edgar Kennedy
producer =Hal Roach
writer =Leo McCarey
H.M. Walker
starring =Stan Laurel
Oliver Hardy
Dorothy Coburn
Buddy the Dog
Otto Fries
Anita Garvin
Sam Lufkin
Edna Marion
Gene Morgan
Tiny Sandford
Ellinor Vanderveer
music =
cinematography =Len Powers
editing =Richard C. Currier
distributor =Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
released =March 24 ,1928
runtime = 18 min.
language =Silent film
English (Original intertitles)
country = USA
budget =
preceded_by = "The Finishing Touch "
followed_by = "You're Darn Tootin' "
imdb_id = 0018083
amg_id = 1:148763"From Soup to Nuts" is a 1928 short comedy film starring
Laurel and Hardy as butlers hired for a high society dinner party. When Stan is asked to serve the salad undressed he serves it in his underwear.The film was remade as the first part of
A Chump At Oxford in 1940.Plot
The film center's around Stan and Ollie being hired as waiters at an upper class dinner party and subsequently not making a very good job of it. The film was remade as the 20 minute section of A Chump at Oxford that was added to the start of the film to extend it's length for European audiences.
The film starts with Stan and Ollie arriving at the hosts house, with Ollie taking charge before even entering the property (he insists he is the one to ring the doorbell). 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!” (meaning the way she walks) and naturally, the husband isn't 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 chefs hat away. The chef retaliates by grabbing the nearest plate and smashing it over Stans 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?”, Ollie gets hit by the wife and falls into yet another cake.
See also
*
1928 in film
*Laurel and Hardy films External links
*imdb title|id=0018083|title=From Soup to Nuts
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