Released January 5, 1935 (Sound – two reels).
Plot: Stan & Ollie have set up their own electrical repair store. Unfortunately, the grocery store next door is run by a man & wife they encountered in the mountains a year or so earlier (Charlie Hall and Mae Busch). When Stan & Ollie go and visit, “let’s let bygones be bygones”, Mr Hall is not impressed. “You mind your business and I’ll mind my business” he responds and soon becomes convinced that Ollie is trying to seduce his wife.
Stan tells Ollie “We’ll take the high road and let him take the low road“, helps himself to one of Hall’s marshmallow and they return to their store, bidding good morning to a gentleman (Bobby Dunn) who is already leaving with an electric lamp.
The grocer takes his revenge first upon Stan & Ollie and then upon the goods in their shop with the Boys carrying out similar attacks on the grocer and his property. The situation isn’t helped by Ollie ending up in Mrs Hall’s boudoir, in circumstances that are way too complicated to explain here!
In the meantime, the Bobby Dunn character is methodically emptying the boys’ shop, ultimately doing so in a large truck, so easy has it become to steal the contents while Messrs Laurel and Hardy are otherwise occupied with outwitting and eventually humiliating Mr Hall
Fun Facts: Filmed entirely on a single elaborate set inside a sound stage at the Hal Roach studio. Part of a city block was created: a pair of adjoining two-story building facades, with the complete interiors of the L&H Electrical Co. and neighbouring Hall’s Grocery visible from the ground floor storefront windows and doors. Nominated as the Best Short Subject Comedy in January 1936.
The only Laurel and Hardy sequel. Them Thar Hills (also 1935) was such a success that a rematch with Mr Hall was put into production. However, as budgets continued to be reduced at Roach, a Culver City location shoot was a thing of the past and the street set for Tit for Tat was created entirely in the studio.
Viola Richard, who appeared in 7 silents with Laurel and Hardy, but was unseen since Should Married Men Go Home? in 1928 has a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it appearance in this in a walk-on role as a passer-by.
Classic Dialogue: Ollie to Mae Busch: “I’ve never been in a position like that before…” As the two are coming down the stairs at the time, one wonders how on earth that got past the sensors of the day!
Ollie: “My reputation has been ruthlessly dragged through the mud and mire. Never let it be said that a Hardy’s spotless reputation to be so maliciously tread upon”. Stan: “You’re right, Ollie; he who filters your good name steals trash”.
Continuity: Ollie is putting the bulbs in the sign and there are a lot missing at the bottom. Then when he starts to rise up because the ladder is on top of the lift, the bottom of the sign is full of bulbs.
When Charlie removes the lard from his face, his left eye is still covered and the hole is well below his chin. In the next shot you can see both his eyes and the hole is level with his chin.
When Stan and Ollie walk past the ladder to go to Charlie’s shop, the bucket is at the side of the ladder. When they come back the bucket is behind the ladder.
Ollie pours the remains of the broken watches onto the counter then leaves to go to Charlie’s shop. When they return the remains are gone. Perhaps the thief took them too?
After Charlie has smashed up Stan and Ollie’s shop they follow him into his shop and you can see the big tin of lard sitting on the table still sealed. The next shot you can see the empty tin lying on the floor.
We hope that you have enjoyed our brief look at the movie, and if you have any questions or thoughts you would like to share, please leave them on the box below. We’d love to hear from you and you will receive a response on this page.
The Beau Chumps Tent of Sunderland UK 
Finding the continuity gaffs is something that started as the L&H films made it to video tape and now DVD/BluRay. Audiences during first run screenings rarely had a chance to see the film enough times to notice the errors. Some are rather blatant and quite noticeable on first sight — like the variation in the distribution of lard on Charlie Hall’s head — but the shifting bulb bucket and mysteriously-appearing light bulbs require multiple viewings to catch. Even when televised, the screenings were infrequent enough that it made discovering these continuity issues difficult. Now with “freeze frame” and “zoom,” we can scrutinize our dear films frame-by-frame if we’d like. With such intimate knowledge of the films, I’ve taken to making “peripheral observations,” as I call them, where I watch the background rather than the familiar main action. It’s amazing what previously-unseen nuances you discover when doing so!
One thing I always found amusing in TIT FOR TAT was the scene with Charlie Hall putting all the pocket watches in the malted milk mixer…watches that are, at most, 3/4-of-an-inch thick. Ollie pours the mangled remains of the watches on the counter, and Stan sifts through the various gears and springs, discovering a large gear on a long axle. He spins the gear like a top, and hesitates throwing it back on the pile, deciding to tuck his new toy into his overalls for future play. Of course, the axle and gear assembly was impossible large to have been a part of one of the narrow pocket watches! Not a continuity error, but a case of having to suspend your sense of reality when it comes to physics.
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Hello Tracy and thanks as always for sharing your thoughts.
As you know, I’m always looking for ‘peripheral’ stuff too. In fact I often watch Babe while Stan is speaking and vice-versa. Their reactions to each other are often fascinating but always a joy. Stan in particular is always ‘up to something’ while Ollie waxes eloquent and the muscles he must’ve developed behind those eyebrows will have been very well toned indeed!
I also love the innocence and child-like Stan which is never better illustrated by the mini ‘spinning-top’ incident you detail in ‘Tit For Tat’. I’m confident why I say I’m sure this will have been ad-libbed, or at least dreamed up during shooting.
Please, stay well
Mike
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