Review of On the Loose

I've been watching the Thelma Todd - Zasu Pitts shorts these last couple of weeks, and I have only two more to go. Most of them are quite primitive not just by today's but even by 1930's standards, and although Todd (who was an extremely beautiful woman by any decade's standards) and Pitts make a good team with a genuine affection for each other, they're often not given enough comic material to work with. "On The Loose", however, may just be the best of their shorts; it's almost certainly their most risqué one, as we get to see Thelma in her underwear, Thelma and Zasu sleeping in the same bed (!), a kid picking a lollipop from inside Thelma's dress, two men who constantly find themselves hugging, and other stuff like that. It's also kind of a feminist short several decades before feminism became "official": Thelma's character shoots and punches better than the men! There is not much of a story, but there is a liberating sense of fun as people from another era are having a ball in the Coney Island amusement park. Laurel and Hardy's appearance at the end is just the icing on this rather tasty cake. **1/2 out of 4.