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The Hollywood Revue of 1929 Released by MGM, 23 Nov 1929 - 115 minutes An "all-star" revue designed to introduce a number of stars to talkies. An amazingly-young Jack Benny — not yet the radio star he would become — functions as Master of Ceremonies, introducing (and getting involved with) an inept magic act performed by Stan and Ollie. The Boys are amusing in their short segment and the entire film is an interesting, if disjointed record of the era.
The Rogue Song Released by MGM, 10 May 1930 - 115 minutes - COLOR A romantic operetta starring Tibbit, The Rogue Song was originally filmed without Stan and Ollie. Deciding the film was in dire need of comedy relief, MGM borrowed them — and Roach as uncredited director — for some additional scenes. Just how good the finished product was is unknown, as only snippets of the film are known to exist...but the evidence does not suggest a classic. The eagerness of some L&H fans to locate a print somewhere is probably just due to the film's being lost and because, apart from one public service film, it represents the only time The Boys were filmed in color. Roach said that this film inspired the later L&H operetta-like films, The Bohemian Girl and (especially) The Devil's Brother, both of which were real Laurel and Hardy movies — and probably a lot better. Pardon Us Released by MGM, 15 Aug 1931 - 56 minutes Initially planned as a short, this prison comedy turned into The Boys' first starring feature when the budget for sets grew wildly out of hand. The plot finds them behind bars for bootlegging liquor. Tough guy Walter Long is the ruler of the cell block and he includes them in his break-out plan, only to have them screw up things for the would-be escapees. Stan and Ollie get away, get recaptured, get mixed up in a prison riot...and the whole thing shows its impromptu conversion from short to feature as the plot meanders about. It's almost like they were writing this one a reel at a time as they went along. Some of the individual scenes — like Ollie's performance of "Lazy Moon" — are wonderful, but they'd have to do better than this. Fortunately, they did. [Note: The official release print of Pardon Us was a brief 56 minutes but a 64 minute version also exists — apparently an earlier cut of the film that contains several sequences that were deleted after previews. The longer version was used for the 1985 Laserdisc release, which is long out of print but prized by L&H buffs.] Pack Up Your Troubles Released by MGM, 17 Sept 1932 - 68 minutes When The Boys return home after World War I, they take charge of the little daughter of an old army buddy who didn't make it back. Their mission is to find the old army buddy's parents — a Mr. and Mrs. Smith, good luck — so they can turn the child over to them. Through an awkward plot coincidence, they do it but along the way, they run into a wide array of problems and bad guys, chief among them a humorless welfare official who wants to take the daughter away from them. It all makes for a more coherent, and generally more amusing feature than The Boys' previous attempt. George Marshall was credited as co-director but reportedly handled the job, pretty much solo. He also was drafted into service to play the army cook when the actor hired for the part failed to show up. Marshall, who went on to helm of allegedly more prestigious films, did a good job in both capacities, and the result was not only a funny film but one filled with genuine heart. The Devil's Brother Released by MGM, 5 May 1933 - 90 minutes The Boys' best costume production was a loose adaptation of Fra Diavolo, an obscure opera that happened to have two bumbling comic characters who could be converted into Laurel and Hardy. Lacking funds or a legal means of obtaining them, Stan and Ollie decide to go into the robber baron business, emulating a famous and legendary singing highwayman known as Fra Diavolo. They select a victim to hold up and Ollie claims to actually be Fra Diavolo. Turns out, the victim they selected is Fra Diavolo. At first, he decides to hang them but relents and makes them his servants...suggesting he may not be as wise as his reputation would indicate. The Boys are enlisted in a plot to relieve a certain Lord and Lady Rocburg (Jimmy Finlayson and Thelma Todd) of their riches. The result was one of The Boys' best features, especially after the decision was made to trim back the King/opera material and make it more of a Laurel and Hardy film. (The first previewed cut was 117 minutes and most of what was cut was reportedly King singing.) Whoever did the trims found a very comfortable balance between the dramatic and musical sequences (directed mainly by Roach) and the solid comedy scenes (directed primarily by Rogers). Even cut down, it was the longest movie to ever star Stan and Oliver...but it never drags.
Sons of the Desert Released by MGM, 29 Dec 1933 - 68 minutes One of the two films most oft-cited by L&H buffs as their best feature — the other is Way Out West — Sons of the Desert is a hilarious affair from start to finish that combines elements from several past films, including Their Purple Moment, We Faw Down, Blotto and Be Big. In a nutshell: Stan and Ollie conspire to get away from their wives and attend the annual Sons of the Desert convention in California. Ollie feigns illness and a "doctor" (a veterinarian hired by The Boys) recommends an ocean voyage to Honolulu as a cure. Off to the convention they go...but then the ship on which they were allegedly returning from Honolulu sinks. The wives, distraught with worry, go to a movie to take their minds off the matter and there they see a newsreel that shows the Sons of the Desert cavorting in the streets at their annual convention, far from Hawaii. Guess who is featured prominently in the newsreel footage. Stan and Oliver learn about the shipwreck and try to lie their way out of their predicament, unaware their spouses know they're fibbing. Tight and funny, the film never wastes a second and offers many joys, including one of their too-rare musical numbers...and a hilarious performance by fellow Roach star Charley Chase. He's terrific as an obnoxious conventioneer — a role he reportedly disliked but still played with great skill. All of it works together to create as funny a movie as anyone has ever made. Hollywood Party Released by MGM, 1 Jun 1934 - 68 minutes Another "all-star" film, headed up by Jimmy Durante as a Tarzan-type actor who throws a big Hollywood party at which he hopes to buy some lions to aid his career. The movie itself is something of a shambles. Not only did one director after another quit (or get fired) but stars signed on and then withdrew, and a fleet of writers came and went. Laurel and Hardy were borrowed from Roach for less than a week, and reportedly improvised most of their scenes, most notably a very funny egg-breaking battle with Lupe Velez. The resultant film is worth seeing for them, for an animated sequence done by the Disney Studio which is missing from many prints, and for no other reason. Babes in Toyland Released by MGM, 30 Nov 1934 - 80 minutes Toyland is a fun, beautiful place — or at least, it would be, were it not for residents like the insidious Barnaby...and the evil Bogeyman who live just outside the city limits. Barnaby is attempting to evict the Old Woman in the Shoe from her domicile and two of her tenants — Stan and Ollie, who work for the chief toymaker — attempt to raise the cash to pay off her mortgage. At the same time, they get involved with another of Barnaby's schemes, which is to pressure the lovely Bo Peep to marry her. All of this results in an odd, uneven feature that is most notable for its wonderful charm and innocence...although the Bogeyman sequences, perhaps because they provide a sharp contrast, unsettled some viewers and were edited from some prints. Things were also anything but charming during the making of the film as Laurel and Roach engaged in a major tiff. Roach originally wrote an outline for a very different story which he intended to stock with cameos of major stars borrowed from other studios in emulation of Paramount's then-recent all-star version of Alice in Wonderland. Stan rejected Roach's plot and insisted on another. After much fighting and repeated delays, the producer threw up his hands and let Stan make the film he wanted with a lower budget, though one that was still formidable for a Roach picture. To his dying day, Roach considered the film a disaster but many Laurel and Hardy fans regard it fondly and hail the outstanding performance by Henry Brandon as the bad guy. At the time, Brandon was 21 years old and playing a similar villainous role in a Los Angeles theatrical melodrama, which is where Roach saw him. The film, by the way, was made in black-and-white but years before a computer-colorized version was released, people always seemed to recall the movie as being in full (and glorious) color — a tribute to the occasional magic it achieves. Bonnie Scotland Released by MGM, 23 Aug 1935 - 80 minutes Stan and Ollie travel to Scotland to pick up another one of those inheritances that never pays off for them. This time, it turns out to be a box of snuff. While looking for a means of getting Hardy some pants (after he loses his only pair), they accidentally enlist in the army and are shipped off to India to defend a Scottish fort. There are some truly funny moments in this film but for the most part, it's a disjointed affair with a forced plot. A romantic subplot is never quite resolved and some other odd transitions suggest (correctly) that deep cuts were made in the film after previews. One of their weakest Roach features. The Bohemian Girl Released by MGM, 14 Feb 1936 - 70 minutes The last of the Laurel and Hardy "comic operas" was based on an operetta by Michael Balfe, who fortunately did not live to see Stan and Ollie cast as two of this merry, travelling gypsies. The band is exiled by the nasty Count Arnheim but they're not about to go quietly. Mae Busch, playing Hardy's wife, kidnaps the Count's only daughter, tells Ollie it is his, then runs off with her lover. The Boys raise the little girl and the plot gets even more complicated...partly because the original story by Balfe was complicated, and partly because of a sad problem that occurred shortly after filming was (initially) completed. Thelma Todd originally had a much larger role in The Bohemian Girl but after her untimely and suspicious death, Roach and Laurel had a problem: To release the film then seemed morbid but they could not afford to scrap it. The solution was to recut and refilm, shifting much of Todd's role to Mae Busch's character, reducing the late Ms. Todd to a much smaller part. It is probably a shame so much of her final performance was lost, but the resultant film is better than one might expect. A particular highlight is a sequence where Stan, charged with bottling homemade wine, runs out of bottles and winds up drinking way too much of the product. That scene alone would make The Bohemian Girl a classic, but there are many other fine moments, as well. Our Relations Released by MGM, 30 Oct 1936 - 74 minutes Stan and Ollie again play dual roles — themselves (henpecked husbands) and their long lost twin brothers, Alf and Bart. The latter are sailors who happen to be in port and when they go into town, they're mistaken for their brothers and vice-versa. The sailors wind up escorting the civilians' wives, while the civilian Laurel and Hardy get mixed-up in a sub-plot involving a pearl ring, the captain of their brothers' ship and some gangsters. The resultant film may seem a bit confusing and, at times, predictable but when I programmed film festivals, this one consistently evoked more laughter from audiences than any other Laurel & Hardy picture...although the crowds absolutely hated a joke where Stan, in an uncharacteristic act of cruelty, sets the captain's chest hair on fire. Audiences of the time could not possibly have disliked the joke as much as the folks to whom I've showed the film or it would have been excised. A "reciprocal destruction" bout with Finlayson also seems a little crueler than The Boys' normal engagements. On the other hand, the nightclub set for a later scene is a truly impressive (and unusually high-budget) element, and a "thrill" end sequence is very funny, even if the special effects involved aren't quite believable. Of the over-all film, one might say that its flaws are many but its laughs are formidable.
Way Out West Released by MGM, 16 Apr 1937 - 66 minutes The "other" best feature. Someone — obviously, not a particularly smart individual — has given Stan and Oliver the deed to a gold mine and sent them to a wild west town to deliver it to the rightful owner, a woman named Mary Roberts. She works in a tavern there and her slimy boss (Finlayson, in one of his best performances) decides to steal the deed, passing his wife off as Mary Roberts. So The Boys give her the paperwork and then, when they meet the real Mary Roberts and realize the deception, have to get it back. Along the way, they tangle with the local sheriff and perform their most famous musical numbers — "Trail of the Lonesome Pine" and the oft-seen dance number, "At The Ball, That's All." There's one awkward shift in style with a cartoony joke that involves Hardy's neck being stretched out like a giraffe. Fortunately, it's the only false note in a warm and wonderful comedy, with an especially nice performance from Mr. Finlayson. Pick A Star Released by MGM, 21 May 1937 - 70 minutes Not exactly a Laurel & Hardy movie but they're in it for a while so we oughta mention it. Rosina Lawrence — fresh from playing the girl in Way Out West — plays a small town lady who journeys to Hollywood to — guess what? — become a movie star. There, she meets many people, including several real movie stars, including Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The Boys play themselves in two long sequences, both of which are well worth wading through the rest of this not-unpleasant feature. In one, they engage in a movie barroom brawl. In the other, they fiddle around with musical instruments, and Hardy manages to swallow a toy whistle. In the fifties when the sound Laurel and Hardy shorts were released to television, someone got the idea to pad out their number by cutting up their features, in some cases making two or even three ersatz two-reelers out of an hour-long film. In most cases, the results were ghastly but they did make one pretty decent "new" Laurel and Hardy short out of Pick A Star by including all of The Boys' scenes and as much footage as necessary to set them up. It was called A Day at the Studio and it actually worked rather well. |
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© 2007 Mark Evanier Hosted by Dreamhost |
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