Preceded by short:Two Tars (James Parrott, 1928). All fender benders and belly laughs, Laurel and Hardy wreak havoc in a rented auto. (22 mins, Silent with music track, B&W, 35mm, From Kit Parker Films)Darryl F. Zanuck's story "A Romance of the Last Horse and First Horseless Carriage" reins in a generational feud between an old-fashioned father (Russell Simpson) and his automobile-crazy son (Charles Emmett Mack) in this Vitaphone early-sound film. It's 1897 and Hank, a cantankerous coot who runs a livery service, despises the belching buggies that are just arriving in his serene town. For son Bob, the buggies bode a future he fondly embraces, to the disgust of his dad. In Hank's one glorious moment of resistance, he races a car, yelling as his horse pulls ahead, "Hurry up, Progress. Don't keep me waiting." But bug-eyed Bob chooses the road soon paved, a road leading all the way to Detroit. Del Ruth's film is nicely detailed with a splendid assortment of early autos on display. Barney Oldfield appears in a cameo, re-enacting his famous run in the Ford 999, the first car to break the one-minute mile. Ironically, Mack, who played the autophile Bob, died in a car crash on his way to the studio to work on this film.-Steve Seid