Line #9 Film/TheMusicBox


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/l_23251_37f8dced_8292.jpg]]
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3	''The Music Box'' is a 1932 Creator/LaurelAndHardy short film directed by James Parrott, produced by Hal Roach Studios and released by Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer. Regarded by many as the best film the duo ever made, it was the winner of the first UsefulNotes/AcademyAward for Best Short Subject (Comedy) in 1932 and was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the U.S. UsefulNotes/NationalFilmRegistry in 1997.
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5	The short itself depicts Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as delivery men attempting to carry a large, heavy player piano up a long flight of stairs, and [[EpicFail failing spectacularly]] several times. Once they finally do get the piano up the stairs they have even more trouble getting it into the house they're delivering it to. And to top it all off, the recipient of the piano is someone Laurel and Hardy angered while bringing it up the long flight of stairs, and was unaware he was getting a piano because his wife bought it as a surprise. He is not thrilled to see Laurel and Hardy invading his home and making a nice mess of things.
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8	!!Tropes:
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10	* AbsurdlyLongStairway: Creator/LaurelAndHardy deliver a piano up one of these. The staircase, which is [[http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-music-box-steps still there]] in the Silver Lake district of Los Angeles, was also used in the comedy films ''Isn't Life Terrible?'' and ''Ice Cold Cocos''.
11	* AgonyOfTheFeet: Oliver steps on a nail, and it's PlayedForLaughs. Until you notice it is ''[[{{Squick}} still stuck in his foot]]''.
12	* AllForNothing: After finally getting the piano up the stairs, they learn there's an easy alternate route. And are then dumb enough to ''take it all the way back down'' so they can use it.
13	* AmusingInjuries: Over the course of the short, the duo (mostly Hardy) get slapped, hit with a bottle, kicked, poked with a billy club, run over by the piano they're delivering, dragged down the stairs by the piano they're delivering, beaned by a block and tackle, sent crashing through a locked door, electrocuted by stepping into the back of an overturned radio, knocked out a window into a fountain and [[RuleOfThree nearly crushed by the piano they're delivering]], and step on a board with three nails sticking out of it. And those are just the major ones.
14	* AsideGlance: As usual, Ollie pulls it off multiple times.
15	* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment: "I hate and detest pianos!"
16	* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: Addressed; the nurse is clearly shown to be in the wrong after slapping Stanley and breaking a bottle over Ollie's head, but the duo are the ones who get blamed by a policeman for when Stanley kicked her, which she claims is "molesting" her.
17	* EpicFail: It's just one right after another.
18	* GroinAttack: Ollie gets poked in the groin, ''twice'', by the policeman.
19	* GrievousBottleyHarm: The nurse breaks a milk bottle over Oliver's head.
20	* HaveAGayOldTime: The police officer accuses Laurel and Hardy of 'molesting' the nurse, which at one time just meant 'bothering' without any sexual connotations.
21	* HereWeGoAgain: Every time the piano rolls down the stairs.
22	* HerrDoktor: Professor Theodor [[TheVonTropeFamily Von Schwarzenhoffen]].
23	* InstrumentOfMurder: Well, not really, it just causes them massive amounts of physical pain.
24	* {{Jerkass}}:
25	** The nurse who laughs at Laurel and Hardy when she causes the piano to roll down the stairs again, and breaks a bottle over Oliver's head for laughing when she slaps Stanley for kicking her. Then she gives a policeman a one-sided story of what happened.
26	** The professor, who loses his temper and goes on a long angry rant simply because Stan and Ollie asked him to step a ''foot'' to the side and go around.
27	* LargeHam: Professor Theodore von Schwarzenhoffen.
28	* LeftTheBackgroundMusicOn: The music playing during the introduction turns out to be played by the piano, and it stops when a salesman turns it off.
29	* LiteralAssKicking: Laurel kicks a nurse who laughs at their misfortunes in the behind. Later a cop kicks Hardy.
30	* {{Malaproper}}: Laurel, as usual.
31	-->"Say, listen. Don't you think you're bounding over your steps?"
32	%%* MeddlesomePatrolman:
33	* NoIndoorVoice: Professor Von Schawarzenhoffen.
34	* NowYouTellMe: It turns out that Laurel and Hardy could have taken the piano around the corner and avoided the stairs entirely, but they don't find this out until they finally reach the top. They then haul the piano back down the stairs and take the short cut. Naturally.
35	* OverlyLongName: Professor Theodore Von Schwarzenhoffen, M.D., A.D., D.D.S., F.L.D., F.F.F and F.
36	* ParrotExposition: When the duo are told by a postman that the house that they're delivering is right on top of the stoop, Ollie repeats exactly that.
37	* PianoDrop: The TropeCodifier; happens when it rolls down the stairs several times, and again when the boys are trying to hoist it up to the second story of the house with a crudely put together pulley.
38	* PoliceBrutality: Not overly harsh, but the cop does get a little rough with the boys.
39	* ProductDeliveryOrdeal: Creator/LaurelAndHardy play a pair of deliverymen who have to deliver a piano up a steep flight of stairs. It's PlayedForLaughs.
40	* TheRemake: The film is basically a remake of an earlier, silent L&H short called ''Hats Off'' (in which the duo attempted to navigate a washing machine up the same set of stairs). This is considered a lost film, sadly, and there are no known surviving prints of it.
41	* ThatWasTheReward: Played to a tee. While trying to get a player piano delivered, the duo angers Professor Theodor Von Schwarzenhoffen. He turns up at [[ChekhovsGunman the end of the short]] and destroys the player piano in a fit of rage - only to learn from his wife that it was intended as his present.
42	* TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: Professor Theodore von Schwartzenhoffen, M.D., A.D., D.D.S., F.L.D., F-F-F-und-F.
43	* UnusualEuphemism: When telling the cop what happened to her, the nurse says she got kicked right in the middle of her "daily duties".
44	* VandalismBackfire: Professor Von Schwarzenhoffen smashes the player piano that his wife bought for him as a surprise.
45	* WouldHitAGirl: Laurel.

Context Film / TheMusicBox