
Directing
Lloyd French
Born — Died
1900-01-11 — 1950-05-24
Place of birth
San Francisco, California, USA
Known for
Directing
Credits
40 titles
Lloyd French (January 11, 1900 – May 24, 1950) was an American director of short films, most of them comedies. His best remembered films are several Laurel and Hardy comedies in the 1930s. He also made several musical short films featuring many bandleaders of the day; in the 1940s he also directed several shorts starring Edgar Kennedy and Leon Errol; he made his last film in 1946. French was born in San Francisco, California and died in Beverly Hills, California of heart disease.
Known for
7.1Barbershop owners Stan and Ollie answer an ad in the newspaper from a wealthy widow looking for a husband. Ollie only mails in his response and is invited to the widow's mansion. Stan discovers his unmailed letter and insists on tagging along. At the mansion, the widow's creepy butler informs them that the woman is crazy. She was once jilted by an Oliver and now her hobby is marrying Olivers and then slitting their throats. Now the boys must figure out how to escape.
Oliver the Eighth
1934
7.0A former art student returns from Europe to run the department store he inherited from his father and finds his employees behaving very bizarrely.
Shop Talk
1936
7.3In this short film, Laurel and Hardy wage battle with inanimate objects, their co-workers, and the laws of physics during a routine work day at a sawmill.
Busy Bodies
1933
6.6Oliver stands to inherit a large fortune from his rich Uncle Bernal, with the condition that he be happily married. But when Mrs. Hardy walks out just before Uncle Bernal is due for a visit, Stanley is pressed into duty (and into drag) to impersonate Oliver's loving spouse.
That's My Wife
1929
6.9Stan and Ollie are chimney sweeps working at the home of mad scientist Professor Noodle.
Dirty Work
1933
10.0Gus Doakes joins the National Guard; hilarity ensues.
The Officer's Mess
1935
Behind the camera
7.1Barbershop owners Stan and Ollie answer an ad in the newspaper from a wealthy widow looking for a husband. Ollie only mails in his response and is invited to the widow's mansion. Stan discovers his unmailed letter and insists on tagging along. At the mansion, the widow's creepy butler informs them that the woman is crazy. She was once jilted by an Oliver and now her hobby is marrying Olivers and then slitting their throats. Now the boys must figure out how to escape.
Oliver the Eighth
1934
7.0A former art student returns from Europe to run the department store he inherited from his father and finds his employees behaving very bizarrely.
Shop Talk
1936
7.3In this short film, Laurel and Hardy wage battle with inanimate objects, their co-workers, and the laws of physics during a routine work day at a sawmill.
Busy Bodies
1933
6.6Oliver stands to inherit a large fortune from his rich Uncle Bernal, with the condition that he be happily married. But when Mrs. Hardy walks out just before Uncle Bernal is due for a visit, Stanley is pressed into duty (and into drag) to impersonate Oliver's loving spouse.
That's My Wife
1929
6.9Stan and Ollie are chimney sweeps working at the home of mad scientist Professor Noodle.
Dirty Work
1933
10.0Gus Doakes joins the National Guard; hilarity ensues.
The Officer's Mess
1935
8.0Vaudeville performers Cook and Butler are mistaken for domestic servants; hilarity ensues.
A Peach of a Pair
1934
6.6Novice policemen Stan and Ollie bungle a burglary investigation.
The Midnight Patrol
1933
7.8The stooges are icemen who, while delivering ice to a house on the top of a high hill, destroy several cakes that a wealthy man is trying to bring home. When their antics cause the servants at their customer's house to quit, the boys are hired to take their place and prepare a dinner party. What they don't know is that the party is for the man whose cakes they wrecked. When Moe's gas filled cake explodes and the man realizes who they are, they must leave in a hurry.
An Ache in Every Stake
1941
7.0Bob Hope wants to marry the mayor's daughter, but the mayor doesn't want his daughter to marry Bob Hope.
The Old Grey Mayor
1935
4.2A hillbilly moonshiner enlists in the army. Monogram Pictures' comedy was inspired by the then-popular comic strip character.
Private Snuffy Smith
1942
5.8Professor Cicero Pu and his dummy Charlie take a trip in the "Spirit of Ammonia" hot air balloon to the stratosphere. After the balloon goes out of control, they land in an unexpected place.
Two Boobs in a Balloon
1935
8.0Joe Palooka and Strangler Chokeovitch have set up training camps on adjacent beachfront sites. When Joe knocks out the Strangler after a misunderstanding, Chokeovitch's manager challenges the champ to a professional wrestling bout, with the winner taking all the gate receipts.
The Choke's on You
1936
6.5On the morning of his wedding to oil baron Peter Cucumber's daughter, Ollie receives a jigsaw puzzle from Stan as a wedding gift. The boys soon become absorbed in the puzzle. A taxi driver, butler, policeman and messenger boy join in as well.
Me and My Pal
1933
7.3Johnny (Shemp Howard) is promised the chief process server's job if he can serve a summons on Musclebound Pete, a local hood. Like the servers before him, he's not only unsuccessful, but beat up for his efforts. Pete's only weakness is women, so Johnny switches clothes with girlfriend Helen, and goes after Pete in drag.
Serves You Right
1935
3.5A hen-pecked husband takes his shrewish wife, and her obnoxious little brother, on a weekend camping trip. Along for the ride are the boorish downstairs neighbors (Shemp Howard and Ruth Gillette). A pleasant getaway turns into a nightmare thanks to the antics of Junior, an uncooperative tent, a lazy and oblivious Henry, and a skunk.
So You Won't T-T-T-Talk
1934
7.0A vaudeville team convinces an agent to book their new act, which uses a Civil War theme.
Smoked Hams
1934
In this The Boy Friends series short, college students Mickey and Alabam stay at a city friend's place for what they tell him will be one night - though it stretches into several months.
You're Telling Me
1932
9.0Boxer Joe Palooka steps into the ring after a friend's dog gets kicked.
For the Love of Pete
1936
6.0Women are put in charge of the city government for a day, and the mayor must go to the train station to greet an opera singer.
All Girl Revue
1940
A man desiring to join the Grouch Club describes the terrible experience of trying to check out a book from a public library.
The Great Library Misery
1938
10.0Henry and Johnnie need to clean the apartment before the wives get home.
While the Cat's Away
1936
Leith Stevens leads his orchestra in a nice assortment of standards in a variety of musical styles, including Dixieland and swing. Mr. Stevens was a popular orchestra leader of the era who later became a musical director for an assortment of television shows and his facility with more than one style of music, so important for his later career, is much in evidence here.
Saturday Night Swing Club
1938
10.0Elmer fixes up a room for his just-married, freeloading brother-in-law and wife. When the newlyweds show up, Henry brings a surprise in the form of stepson Junior. The apartment is now too small, so Henry decides that they'll buy a lot and build a do-it-yourself home, a disaster in the making when Junior switches the house's part numbers. It doesn't help matters that Elmer, Henry and the wives are all incompetent.
Why Pay Rent?
1935
No synopsis available yet.
The Good Old Plumbertime
1936
Part of the Melody Masters series (1938-1939 season) #11 where Dave Apollon and His Club Casanova Orchestra does their comedy and music bits.
Dave Apollon and His Club Casanova Orchestra
1939
5.6The Dean and Board of Flunk Well College are arguing with its football coach, Bergen, about the team's star player, Charlie McCarthy, who is the only reason the team is a winning one, but who isn't doing well academically and could be pulled from the team if his grades and behavior don't improve. In other words, Charlie is a dummy in more ways than one. Beyond other problems Coach Bergen has with Charlie concerning the coach's girlfriend Joan, Coach Bergen has to get Charlie prepared to pass an exam administered by the Dean. Instead of cheating like he usually does, Charlie has his own way of dealing with the exam.
All American Drawback
1935
Prankster Bob is traveling to New York by ship with his girlfriend and he proposes to marry her. Along the trip, he plays pranks on the captain, passengers and his future father-in-law. When they arrive in the harbor, the captain and his father-in-law decide to revenge and the captain asks his men to retain Bob at the customs for hours. Then he heads to the office of his father-in-law where his girlfriend is waiting for him. But her father is still upset with Bob. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Watch the Birdie
1935
7.4An aspiring photographer and his bumbling assistant go to great lengths to take a picture of a beautiful actress whose wealthy husband does not want her photographed.
Double Exposure
1935
Edgar Kennedy's hunting trip with his single buddies is kiboshed when his wife, Vivien, has made other arrangements for their vacation time. One of Edgar's friends thinks he has a way for Edgar to go hunting with them. He should pretend to join the National Guard, who are holding a two week camp. In reality, Edgar will have only rented a uniform to convince Vivien that he has joined. Two things may threaten Edgar's plan. First, Vivien, regardless of if she trusts her husband or not, may want to see him off at the train station, which would force him onto the train going to the guard camp. And second, if he can fool Vivien that he is joining the National Guard, he may have also convinced the National Guard that he has joined for real. But in carrying out his plan, Edgar may get into even bigger trouble.
Drafted in the Depot
1940
8.0Now that they're engaged, Ann wants Joe to retire from the ring, seeing as how he's the heavyweight champ. Ann's mother, who doesn't want her daughter marrying "beneath" the wealthy family's standing, to set Ann up with a European count. What the mother doesn't know is that the "count" is after the family's money more than he is Ann.
Taking the Count
1937
4.8When Mickey accidentally knocks out a local boxing champ, he is forced to take the fighter's place in a bout.
The Knockout
1932
6.4A musical short subject in which band leader Freddie Rich conducts three musical numbers with his orchestra, with solos by Nan Wynn with the Three Symphonettes. In the midst of the radio broadcast on which the band is performing, a gangly guitarist named Joe Sodja interrupts and asks to perform.
Freddie Rich and His Orchestra
1938
7.0An expert on Russian art apparently doesn't know as much about it as he thinks he does.
Rushin' Art
1936
10.0Henry and Elmer stay out all night, then fear returning home because of their formidable mother-in-law.
On the Wagon
1935
6.5Orphanage manager Dr. Bergen tries to get a rich woman to adopt Charlie McCarthy.
Double Talk
1937
9.0Heavyweight champion Joe Palooka (Robert Norton) and his manager/trainer Knobby Walsh (Shemp Howard), are eating a poor farmer out of house and holdings while Joe prepares for a championship bout at Madison Square Garden. The farmer sends the local sheriff to collect from Knobby.
Here's Howe
1936
4.0No synopsis available yet.
At Home
1939
7.0Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy travel to Mexico and enrage a jealous boyfriend.
A Neckin' Party
1937
7.0The Palooka gang is out of money again, and Knobby and Johnny try to raise some quick cash by selling phony watches. Their first sale is their last, when a burly customer realizes he's been had. Next stop, Joe, Knobby and Punchy load up at a local diner, and Knobby has a scheme to skip out on the bill. Of course, the diner owner turns out to be their watch customer, and the boys make a hasty exit with the manager's waitress girlfriend in tow. Knobby books Palooka into a local vaudeville house to put on some exhibition bouts. Of course, their friend from the diner is in the audience, with a bag of rotten tomatoes, and he's more than willing to come on stage when Knobby asks for a volunteer to box with Joe.
The Blonde Bomber
1936
