Sailors Beware on AllMovie

Although this is one of the better early films from Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, they have obviously not yet teamed up and their characterizations have not yet gelled. Stan still exhibits the assertiveness from his previous films, and Ollie is still a rather lecherous heavy. The latest fare for cab driver Chester Chase (Laurel) is Madame Ritz (Anita Garvin) and her baby -- who is really her midget husband (Harry Earles). The pair are international jewel thieves. Chester takes them to the dock, and when his cab is inadvertently hauled on board the SS Mirimar, he ends up being steward under the captain (Frank Brownlee) and Purser Cryder (Hardy). Cryder is more interested in pursuing women than being a purser, but Chaste constantly gets in the way (one of the ladies is a young Lupe Velez). Chaste loses at dice with the baby/midget, but foils Madame Ritz's crooked card game. Finally, when he is given the task of bathing the "infant," the kid's hairy chest gives him away. Chaste and Cryder turn in the crooks and collect the reward, but the midget gets his revenge by beating up Cryder. Although Hardy claims that his famous "tie twiddle" originated in this film, it does not appear in the final version -- his classic camera stare, however, is there.