chair and accidentally gets his tooth pulled. When the dentist eventually pulls Stan's tooth he pulls the wrong one. Tricked by a prison guard into breaking their alleged personal hunger strike, by being promised a thanksgiving-style feast, they go to the mess hall, only to be served the usual drab fare. Laurel protests the absence of the feast, but is threatened by the guards. Soon after, as guns are being passed around under the tables, the naively-puzzled Laurel cluelessly sets off the Tommy gun he has been passed and starts the planned riot prematurely. The Tiger tries to stab Stan for ruining the plan. The warden's daughter is trapped in a burning building and Stan and Ollie get ladders to rescue her. The ladder is too short and Ollie has to hold it high. Stan fires off the Tommy gun again and inadvertently breaks up the prison riot. The grateful warden issues them a written pardon. Laurel unintentionally "razzes" him (and naively solicits him for an order of beer when he misunderstands the warden telling them to "start all over again") and their exit from the prison is a very fast one. Opening title card H.M. Walker wrote the opening title card to this film, which states, "Mr. Hardy is a man of wonderful ideas—So is Mr. Laurel—As long as he doesn't try to think." Cast Production After the release of MGM's hit The Big House with Chester Morris and Wallace Beery, producer Hal Roach decided to feature Laurel and Hardy in a two-reeler spoofing the current prison drama. Roach felt that since his product was currently being released through MGM, he would be able to borrow existing sets used in The Big House to keep costs down. MGM studio head Louis B. Mayer agreed to the idea, on the proviso that the duo appear in a film for MGM in the near future. Infuriated, Roach turned down the offer, and hired set designer Frank Durloff to build an exact replica of the needed prison sets. Pardon Us began production as The Rap in June 1930. To Roach's dismay, shooting went over schedule, with enough surplus for two prison-themed films. As a result, it was decided that The Rap be released as a full-length feature film, Laurel and Hardy's first as stars. Previewed in August 1930, the film ran 70 minutes, and was subject to lukewarm reviews, in which critics