God help both marine life and others out on the open seas when Laurel and Hardy buy a fishing boat "to cut out the middle man". This is the one that starts off with Ollie singing "Fresh fish!" as Stanley blows sour notes on his horn. Ollie gets the bright ideas to buy the boat then fill it up with water to see where the leaks are. The hilarity continues with them having a water fight, then their efforts to fix the leaks just get them into more cold water. Stanley gets bored after Oliver puts him in the "brig", and creates more hysterical havoc. Heading away from the darker themes of marital dispute, this is the two at their funniest, often with eye widening moments that make you want to say, "Oh no he didn't!" I rank this among their top five best shorts.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were comedic geniuses, individually and together, and their partnership was deservedly iconic and one of the best there was. They left behind a large body of work, a vast majority of it being entertaining to classic comedy, at their best they were hilarious and their best efforts were great examples of how to do comedy without being juvenile or distasteful.

Although a vast majority of Laurel and Hardy's previous efforts ranged from above average to very good ('45 Minutes from Hollywood' being the only misfire and mainly worth seeing as a curiosity piece and for historical interest, and even that wasn't a complete mess),'Two Tars' for me was their first truly classic one with close to flawless execution. 'Towed in a Hole' for me is up there with their best and certainly among their funniest, 'The Music Box' and 'Helpmates' are a couple of other examples of this.

Can't really find anything wrong with it, was past caring this time as to whether the story was standard or not because it gets to the point and has a lot of energy throughout, on top of being riotously funny in its best moments. Whoever knew that attempting to make a boat sea-worthy, something that can be fairly stressful, could be so entertaining?

From start to finish 'Towed in a Hole' is great fun, never less than very amusing and the best moments, such as the ending, being classic hilarity. It is never too silly, there is a wackiness that never loses its energy and the sly wit is here, some of the material may not be new as such but how it's executed actually doesn't feel too familiar and it doesn't get repetitive. A lot happens yet it doesn't ever feel rushed or over-stuffed. The ending is a sheer delight and hilarious, despite the viewer being in no doubt how things were going to end.

Laurel and Hardy are on top form here, both are well used, both have material worthy of them and they're equal rather than one being funnier than the other (before Laurel tended to be funnier and more interesting than Hardy, who tended to be underused). Their chemistry feels like a partnership here too, before 'Two Tars' you were yearning for more scenes with them together but in 'Towed in a Hole' and on the most part from 'Two Tars' onwards we are far from robbed of that. Their comic timing is impeccable.

'Towed in a Hole' looks good visually, is full of energy and the direction gets the best out of the stars, is at ease with the material and doesn't let it get too busy or static. Simple it somewhat is but it doesn't ever get overly so.

In summary, one of Laurel and Hardy's best. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Towed In A Hole finds Laurel and Hardy seeking to expand their business horizons. When we first meet them they are selling retail fish from the back of their truck, fish caught by other people. Of course Stan gets the idea that they should get a boat and start catching their own fish to sell and become wholesalers. But what do these guys know from boats or fishing.

They buy a used boat that's a fix-it-up from Billy Gilbert who saw them coming a mile away. Then the rest of the film is spent in their futile attempts to repair this beached craft. After that it's the usual antics.

Best scene for me was Stan getting his head caught between the inside wall of the boat and the mast. What to do but saw the mast to get his head out. Good thing he had around a saw that he had been trying to make music on a few minutes earlier.

Problem was that while Stan was below Ollie was on top of the mast doing some repair there. When Stan finishes solving his problem the results are disaster for Ollie.

Directing these shenanigans for Hal Roach is George Marshall who would in a few years start turning out a whole series of some great comedy films.

Towed In A Hole also gives us some idea of Ollie's singing voice which was quite good. He doesn't sing, but right at the beginning he's hawking those fish in good voice in which he occasionally slips into the southern speech of his native Georgia.

Nice short subject for Stan and Ollie's legion of fans world wide.