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Stan and Ollie have planned a night at a local night club without Stan's wife's knowledge. Bachelor Ollie's repeated unsuccessful efforts to call Stan on the phone makes the wife suspicious. Stan plans to steal his wife's precious hidden bottle of liquor, but the wife overhears the conversation from the extension phone. She empties her bottle down the drain and substitutes a foul concoction made from tea, spices, hot sauce, etc. On Ollie's advice, Stan fakes a telegram to create an excuse to get out of the house. This was during prohibition and liquor was officially unavailable. But the Rainbow Club provides mixers and Stan and Ollie proceed to try to get a buzz from the supposed liquor. They actually succeed, or think they do. They get riotously drunk, laughing and weeping uncontrollably at the soulful singer's sad rendition of "The Curse of an Aching Heart." Meanwhile, Stan's wife visits a local gunshop and buys a huge shotgun, wraps it in paper, and goes to the Rainbow Club where she finds an empty table behind the Boys, who are laughing hysterically when they think of the trick they think they have pulled. Their expression changes when she tells them the "booze" was actually flavored tea, and it changes again when she unwraps the shotgun. Suddenly sobered, they beat a hasty retreat, flee the club and jump into a taxi. Mrs. Laurel fires the shotgun at the retreating cab, which falls completely apart. This is one of The Boys' more elegant efforts. A large staff of extras was used in the elaborate Rainbow Club scenes. The background music we hear in the current releases was added in 1937, and consists of segments from the scores of Way Out West and Our Relations. There were at least three versions made of Blotto: An English version with Anita Garvin as the wife, a Spanish version with Linda Loredo and a French version with Georgette Rhodes. >>Top of Page | Return to Films Index
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