History Film / BigBusiness

''Big Business'' is a 1929 short film starring Creator/LaurelAndHardy. Here, Stan and Ollie are going door-to-door, trying to sell Christmas trees in suburban Los Angeles. They bumble their way around until they wind up greatly irritating one particular homeowner (played by frequent L&H antagonist Jimmy Finlayson); Stan keeps getting his tree stuck in said homeowner's door, and they have to keep ringing the bell to get it out. When Stan rings the bell again and tries to get an advance order on a Christmas tree for next year, the homeowner snaps and wrecks their tree. Stan, in retaliation, vandalizes the homeowner's front door. The homeowner starts slicing up their clothes. This starts a rapidly escalating war of destruction in which Stan and Ollie set about wrecking the man's little bungalow and garden while the homeowner dedicates himself to annihilating Stan and Ollie's trees and their Model T Ford.

''Big Business'' is one of Laurel and Hardy's best-remembered silent shorts. It has a place in the UsefulNotes/NationalFilmRegistry. The film can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TRneBC98Gk here.]]

* BadAss: Stan and Ollie are strong enough to rip down the homeowner's door, but the homeowner takes the cake-he completely demolishes their car without any difficulty, and even rips off the fuel tank!

''Big Business'' is a 1929 short film starring Creator/LaurelAndHardy. Here, Stan and Ollie are going door-to-door, trying to sell Christmas trees in suburban Los Angeles. They bumble their way around until they wind up greatly irritating one particular homeowner (played by frequent L&H antagonist Jimmy Finlayson); Stan keeps getting his tree stuck in said homeowner's door, and they have to keep ringing the bell to get it out. When Stan rings the bell again and tries to get an advance order on a Christmas tree for next year, the homeowner snaps and wrecks their tree. Stan, in retaliation, vandalizes the homeowner's front door. The homeowner starts slicing up their clothes. This starts a rapidly escalating war of destruction in which Stan and Ollie set about wrecking the man's little bungalow while the homeowner dedicates himself to annihilating Stan and Ollie's trees and their Model T Ford.

* TrashTheSet: Laurel and Hardy wrecked a real Los Angeles house for this short. An [[UrbanLegends urban legend]] maintains that it was actually the wrong house, but this is most likely too good to be true.

* PoliceAreUseless: A cop pulls up while Stan and Ollie are destroying the house and the homeowner is tearing Stan and Ollie's car apart. He watches, in apparent astonishment, without making the slightest effort to stop any of them... until Ollie accidentally [[AgonyOfTheFeet whacks his foot with a sledgehammer]].

''Big Business'' is one of Laurel and Hardy's best-remembered silent shorts. It has a place in the UsefulNotes/NationalFilmRegistry.

The film can be seen [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5TRneBC98Gk here.]]

* CaptainObvious: The homeowner grows increasingly enraged after Stan gets the tree stuck in his door something like four times. Finally he picks up the tree and throws it. From this Stan deduces, "I don't think he wants a tree."

''Big Business'' is one of Laurel and Hardy's best-remembered silent shorts. It has a place in the NationalFilmRegistry.

* PoliceAreUseless: A cop pulls up while Stan and Ollie are destroying the house and the homeowner is tearing Stan and Ollie's car apart. He watches, in apparent astonishment, without making any effort to stop either of them... until Ollie accidentally [[AgonyOfTheFeet whacks his foot with a sledgehammer]].

* PoliceAreUseless: A cop pulls up while Stan and Ollie are destroying the house and the homeowner is tearing Stan and Ollie's car apart. He watches, without making any effort to stop either of them, perhaps in astonishment, until Ollie accidentally whacks his foot with a sledgehammer.

* TapOnTheHead: Ollie receives this from a hammer after foolishly ignoring a "no solicitors" sign at one house.

* TapOnTheHead: Ollie receives this from one disinterested homeowner after foolishly ignoring a "no solicitors" sign by the door.

[[caption-width-right:350:some caption text]]

* CrocodileTears: After the cop finally puts a stop to the orgy of destruction, Stan and Ollie burst into tears. This gets the homeowner and cop crying in sympathy. Stan and Ollie give the homeowner a cigar, and everyone parts as friends. However, Stan and Ollie burst into laughter when nobody's looking. The cop sees this and chases off after them. Then the cigar, which actually was a trick cigar, [[ExplosiveCigar explodes in the homeowner's face]].

* CrocodileTears: After the cop finally puts a stop to the orgy of destruction, Stan and Ollie burst into tears. This gets the homeowner and cop crying in sympathy. Stan and Ollie give the homeowner a cigar, and everyone parts as friends. However, Stan and Ollie burst into laughter when nobody's looking. The cop sees this and chases off after them. Then the cigar, which actually was a trick cigar, explodes in the homeowner's face.

* ExplosiveCigar: The homeowner is given one of these by the boys at the end of the film.

''Big Business'' is a 1929 short film starring Creator/LaurelAndHardy. Here, Stan and Ollie are going door-to-door, trying to sell Christmas trees in suburban Los Angeles. They bumble their way around until they wind up greatly irritating one particular homeowner--Stan keeps getting his tree stuck in said homeowner's door, and they have to keep ringing the bell to get it out. When Stan rings the bell again and tries to get an advance order on a Christmas tree for next year, the homeowner snaps and wrecks their tree. Stan, in retaliation, vandalizes the homeowner's front door. The homeowner starts slicing up their clothes. This starts a rapidly escalating war of destruction in which Stan and Ollie set about wrecking the man's little bungalow while the homeowner dedicates himself to annihilating Stan and Ollie's trees and their Model T Ford.

* TrashTheSet: Laurel and Hardy wrecked a real Los Angeles house for this short. An [[UrbanLegends Urban Legend]] maintains that it was actually the wrong house, but this is most likely too good to be true.

* TrashTheSet: Laurel and Hardy wrecked a real house for this short.

''Big Business'' is a 1929 short film starring Creator/LaurelAndHardy. Here, Stan and Ollie are going door-to-door, trying to sell Christmas trees in suburban Los Angeles in what looks like summertime. They bumble their way around until they wind up greatly irritating one particular homeowner--Stan keeps getting his tree stuck in said homeowner's door, and they have to keep ringing the bell to get it out. When Stan rings the bell again and tries to get an advance order on a Christmas tree for next year, the homeowner snaps and wrecks their tree. Stan, in retaliation, vandalizes the homeowner's front door. The homeowner starts slicing up their clothes. This starts a rapidly escalating war of destruction in which Stan and Ollie set about wrecking the man's little bungalow while the homeowner dedicates himself to annihilating Stan and Ollie's trees and their Model T Ford.

''Big Business'' is one of Laurel and Hardy's best-remembered silent shorts, and has a place in the NationalFilmRegistry.