Seen more as a curiosity than anything else, THE TREE IN A TEST TUBE was a propaganda short made in World War II about the wood products that we find in common use all over the country. Stan and Ollie are stopped by narrator # 1 (Pete Smith) as they are walking in the street carrying a suitcase. Smith asks them if they know what wood based products that are in everyday use they have on them. First of course is their newspaper (from wood pulp, of course) but soon they find all types of wood based plastics, rayon, and chemicals in their possession. The film is instructive, but the joke is strained.

I like Pete Smith at his best, but he is sarcastic - and he can stay on a joke beyond it's worth. Here he makes some comments on the boys naiveté which are really uncalled for. That they remain friendly is due to their screen persons as "babes in the wood". Simplistic, they listen to Smith's comments and accept them with grace. Probably it is just as well. They do have some fun with a piece of woman's underclothes on Stan's persons, and later a pair of Stan's colorful undershorts - both of which are made from wood based material. This is okay, spoiled slightly by the soundtrack giving Ollie a laugh at Stan's expense that is reminiscent of Ole Oleson's high pitch screen laugh (a real annoyance, by the way).

The boys do end up chasing a car that most of their clothes and belongings were put upon when unpacking them. It is a fitting moment - but one of too few good ones in this short.

The short then leaves the boys and Smith and a second narrator talks about the Agricultural Department's Wood Laboratory in Madison, Wisconsin, where they have tree grown in a test-tube. That is how the film ends. Interesting as far as it informs us of wood and it's importance, but not great entertainment.

To be truthful the color stock of the film is not the best either. Pity as that is the really best reason to see this film. The short is mediocre at best - only worth a "5" out of "10". It could have been better.

While I had seen the Laurel and Hardy segment of this educational short in various bargain basement VHS tapes and some of the Lee Vickers serious stuff in a bargain basement DVD, it's not until now when I played the Fox DVD of A-Haunting We Will Go that I watched the entire thing as it appeared in various classrooms and corporate meetings. The print hardly seemed an improvement on the other tapes or disc but I guess Fox did the best they could find. I found myself smiling a bit at some of the doings of the boys as they show beginning narrator Pete Smith all the various wood products they have on themselves but the results were hardly hilarious. Still, it was a nice rare look at Stan and Ollie in color. After their bit, Vickers shows us how important wood is for the war effort as this film ends with the patriotic music playing with the American flag flying on screen. All in all, an interesting curio for any fan of L & H.

This is your only chance to see The Boys in full color. Reportedly shot on their lunch break, it IS a weak entry, a film in which Stan and Ollie do nothing more than open their luggage and respond to Pete Smith's jackass narration about how many of their toiletries bow to the timber industry.

Taken as a film of its time, this is no embarrassment to Stan and Ollie. As the only film they ever made in color, it becomes an odd little collector's item, which is really where its only interest lies. Completest should have this in their collection, but fans who only want to see a Laurel & Hardy comedy should probably pass this up.