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Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy almost always had to (with rather unpeaceful results) clash with the fairer sex, particularly with the wives that various scripts imposed on them. A gag that routinely reappears is the typical shrew, married to either of the two poor fellows, necessarily opposed in character to the idiot-husband of the moment and thus in perpetual anger, armed (as good, wholesome cinema of the '20s and '30s demands) with a rolling pin, a broom, well-shined pots, and even, as indeed happens in this incredible short film, a gun with cartridges kindly sold by naive clerks, unaware of the necessity of a gun license and the merciless rage of the buyer in question.
In the celebrated Blotto (re-titled in Italy La Sbornia or Lo Sbaglio), the role of the hapless husband of the situation was assigned to the unfortunate Stan. In the midst of Prohibition (a historical backdrop period very recurring in the duo's works, just mention the unanimously acclaimed Pardon Us), the pair of merry goofs decide to sneak a bottle of whiskey into a chic and refined venue. Before reaching the venue, Stan has to face his grumpy wife: through a laughable trick, the good Laurel manages to escape the mansion, taking with him the apparently single partner-in-crime Hardy. However, the spouse immediately smells deceit and before letting Stan go, replaces the contents of the sneaky bottle (the liquor in question) with a foul concoction of tea and various spices.
Arriving at the Rainbow Club, the comic duo immediately stand out for their incompetence, causing a train of disasters and putting the neighboring clientele in constant embarrassment: initially, in an attempt to covertly open the bottle, they overturn a table, a bucket of ice, and a seltzer dispenser, an act that starts to arouse suspicion among the clientele and owners; subsequently, they start gulping the liquid masquerading as alcoholic. Although initially disgusted by such a concoction, Laurel & Hardy become hilariously drunk, laughing uproariously and boisterously harassing the other patrons. The merriment, however, lasts only for a moment: upon the arrival of Stan's wife, equipped with a gun and ammunition previously purchased from an unwitting (evening) seller of arms and knick-knacks, the pair regains consciousness of the precarious situation, fleeing from the enraged woman in a taxi that, needless to say, gets destroyed by her firing.
The short film, despite the relatively limited time (just under 20 minutes in the Italian version), is the perfect stylization, as well as the most significant "summary" of the comic philosophy of the (celebrated) firm "Laurel & Hardy": sincere and genuine laughter, mocking criticism of the system, astonishing symbiosis between the protagonists and the supporting cast, the latter intent on forging an unbeatable (and unsurpassed) mix of humor and ironic creativity that never collapses into the most grotesque and insane. It is unnecessary to reiterate it, but Laurel & Hardy were, are, and will be the eternal geniuses of straightforward and effective fun, masters of the gag, creators of a cinematically brilliant work that, although in decline and settling downwards, will never cease to shine. Watching in 2011, the digital age, the web, 3D glasses, and high-definition cinema, what at first glance might be dismissed as outdated "scribbles" in black and white from before the war still has a certain effect, at least for those who can still smile and laugh heartily watching the two buddies fail to uncork a bottle and cause an annoying squeak of stoppers, to "bother" drunken customers far more rigid and inflexible than they are, to be machine-gunned, as if in the trenches, by furious and foaming wives, to be undisputed masters of seriousness and monotony that, as they manage to overcome and eradicate it, no one has yet managed to replicate with the same effectiveness and efficiency in methods, techniques, and timing.
Let the following chorus be raised in unison: Long live Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy!
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