I think it was the natural and successful career move for Laurel and Hardy to make feature length movies. They proved during the 1930s that they could adapt to making films of approximately an hour in length by working with a fuller storyline. Several of their feature length films remain classics and rightly so. It would take a couple of films before Stan and Ollie felt at home in this particular format but their debut feature, "Pardon Us" shows a lot of promise. It is a patchy film in that the story is a bit drawn out but the comedy is very good. Our hapless heroes attempt to cash in on the bootlegging racket but don't realise they have sold some of their product to an undercover police officer - until it's too late. Sent to prison, they find it hard to cope with incarceration. Stan suffering from toothache doesn't exactly help! He manages to incur the wrath of everyone as a result. I don't usually care for music numbers being included in comedy films. In fairness though, it doesn't harm this film. I enjoyed the cast of African/American performers as they sang and harmonise together. Great singing all round, not least from Ollie who was truly blessed with a superb voice. The best Laurel and Hardy feature films were to follow but "Pardon Us" has some effective scenes.
Review of Pardon Us
