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Swiss Miss Released by MGM, 20 May 1938 - 72 minutes Stan and Ollie become mouse trap salesmen in Switzerland, the premise being that the country with the most cheese is the one where it'll be easiest to sell mouse traps. A customer pays them in what they don't realize is worthless currency and they head for a hotel and treat themselves to another one of those luxurious dinners they can't pay for. They're forced to work off the bill and while they labor, they get immersed in the marital squabbles of a couple staying there. Once the couple's problems are introduced, Swiss Miss forks off and becomes two movies, one of them (the one about the bickering husband and wife, played by Della Lind and Walter Woolf King) almost painfully boring. But there's still the other movie about The Boys working at the hotel, and that's pretty funny, especially a long, almost-wordless sequence of Stan trying to coax some brandy out of a St. Bernard. An odd scene where they try to move a piano across a rope bridge and encounter a gorilla was once hailed by a prominent film critic as one of the most hilarious moments in cinematic history but he's wrong. It's forced and the special effects are unconvincing. Some of the film's musical numbers (especially a song by Hardy) are pleasant enough. Roach had pressed for this film to have more music and more of a romantic sub-plot than the usual L&H product, figuring that might broaden the appeal. Had both elements been handled as well as they were in the Marx Brothers's A Night at the Opera (in which King played the villain, not the romantic lead), Hal might have been right. Block-Heads Released by MGM, 19 Aug 1938 - 58 minutes In a storyline reminiscent of Harry Langdon's Soldier Man (and presumably suggested by him, as he was among this feature's writers), Laurel was left in the trenches after World War I, only to be discovered long after the conflict had ended. He is returned to The States where his old Army buddy, Ollie, reads about him in the newspaper. Hardy goes to the Veterans' facility for a reunion and to bring Stan home with him — a good deed that causes him more than a little grief, including the storm-out of Mrs. Hardy. The "war veteran" part of the story is pretty much abandoned as The Boys go through a cleaning-up-the-house routine not unlike Helpmates and then things segue into a remake of Unaccustomed As We Are, with Billy Gilbert as the outraged husband who thinks his wife is cheating on him, which leads to an ending which is right out of We Faw Down. In other words, Laurel and Hardy spend a lot of time repeating themselves and while the proceedings are slickly done and funny, there is a strong feeling of déjà vu about it all. Due to marital problems, Laurel was reportedly A.W.O.L. for some of the editing process and when the first preview didn't go well, reshoots were done with Hardy to beef up the comedy in a few scenes, and the original end gag was jettisoned. (Those are The Boys' stand-ins in the final shot we now see.) Still, with its short running time, Block-Heads moves like gangbusters and is a favorite of many. The Flying Deuces Released by RKO-Radio, 20 Oct 1939 - 67 minutes A not-unsuccessful attempt to make a Hal Roach Laurel & Hardy comedy without the involvement of Hal Roach, The Flying Deuces has the look and feel of Beau Hunks without being an actual remake. Mr. Hardy's lady friend jilts him for another and he decides to do away with himself. He further insists that Stan do likewise, but that only causes the suicide attempt to go awry. Instead, at the suggestion of the lady friend's new beau, Hardy decides to join the French Foreign Legion "to forget." Again, he insists that Stan come along and, again, they get into immense trouble, including the theft of an airplane. The ending is quite odd and in some ways, unsettling...but what comes before is pretty decent. As this film is apparently public domain, it turns up on a wide variety of cheap VHS tapes and DVDs, many of truly rotten quality. Buyer, beware. A Chump at Oxford Released by United Artists, 16 Feb 1940 - 6 reels Via dumb luck — and what other kind do Stan and Ollie ever have? — our heroes foil a bank robbery, for which they may select the reward of their choice. Sadly aware of their deficiency in education, they opt for classes at Oxford University where, of course, they do not fit in. Other students "haze" them by, among other pranks, convincing them that the Dean's quarters are theirs and that they should move in and make themselves at home. Then a blow on the head (Stan's) changes all. It "undoes" an amnesia he has been functioning under for as long as he has known Hardy. He is really, it turns out, Lord Paddington, a respected and cultured former resident of Oxford. And so it is that Stan, sporting a new personality and intellect, begins living again as an English Lord, and Hardy winds up as his butler. The role reversal is so funny that one can forgive the contrived amnesia plot (and its too-convenient resolution) and the result is a film that one wishes were longer — although when it was originally filmed, it was even shorter. Roach was pushing the notion of 4-reel comedies at the time and that's what A Chump at Oxford was in its original incarnation. When he discovered he couldn't sell films at that length, he had Stan and Ollie return and shoot what was, in effect, a two-reeler to append to the front of the story — a close remake of From Soup To Nuts, complete with Anita Garvin reprising her hilarious role. In its six-reel length, the finished product shows its seams: The Oxford plot doesn't get started for too long, and then we don't see enough of The Boys fumbling about the institute of highest learning before the abrupt ending. The joys are many but, overall, this one disappoints. The best thing about it is the rare opportunity to see Stan playing a different character. Saps at Sea Released by United Artists, 3 May 1940 - 57 minutes Mr. Hardy's nerves are frazzled due to his job in a horn factory. Old Doc Finlayson (in his final screen appearance with The Boys) prescribes an ocean voyage as therapy but Stan and Ollie come up with what they think is a better idea: They decide to rent a small boat and live on it while remaining moored to the pier. This idea goes awry when an escaped convict (Cramer) takes refuge on their craft and puts out to sea on it with them aboard. The first half of the film, showing Hardy going crazy from all the problems around their apartment is funnier that the second part and includes a great cameo/punch line with Ben Turpin in what turned out to be his last appearance on screen. The second chapter, however, is claustrophobic, spending too much time in the hold of the ship and on the deck with an obvious process background. Worse, the last half consists mostly of one joke that goes on way beyond its welcome — The Boys being forced at gunpoint to eat an indigestible meal. Still, with its short running time, Saps At Sea is quite easy to watch. It was the last film they made for Roach and, some say, the last good movie they made. Great Guns Released by 20th Century Fox, 10 Oct 1941 - 74 minutes The facilities of a bigger studio — in this case, Fox — did not make for better Laurel and Hardy films. Fox was not a comedy lot and it shows. So does the absence of The Boys' relative autonomy, their old creative staff and their fine troupe of supporting players. Add to this the fact that Stan and Ollie were getting older and that their "act" had been around since the silent days and no one seemed certain how to freshen it for a new generation of moviegoers. This film is, in fact, a rather blatant attempt to emulate the success of Buck Privates, the recent success of the hot new comedy team, Abbott and Costello. Aping that film required an awkward, unbelievable premise to get the woefully over-age Stan and Oliver into the Army. They play servants to a millionaire playboy and when he goes into the service, they sign up to watch over him. At the time, this was the weakest feature The Boys had ever made — a distinction it would hold all the way until at least the film after next. A-Haunting We Will Go Released by 20th Century Fox, 7 Aug 1942 - 67 minutes Abbott and Costello moved from service comedies to Hold That Ghost, so Stan and Ollie got stuck in their own lightweight "scary" comedy. This one centered around Dante the Magician, gangsters and a dead body, all forming a plot that seems needlessly grisly at times and doesn't completely make sense. There is also no "haunting" anywhere in the film. The best things that can be said for it are that it's short, that the boys have a nice rapport with Dante — who, given his reputation, is surprisingly uncharismatic — and that the movie wasn't quite as bad as Great Guns or most of what followed. At least, there's no secondary storyline about a young man and woman who can't get together until the final reel. Air Raid Wardens Released by MGM, 4 Apr 1943 - 67 minutes MGM had close ties to Roach and a somewhat better track record for comedy, along with the sense to engage Edgar Kennedy and Stan's favorite gagman, Charley Rogers. What a shock then that this film — which concerns The Boys' attempt to stop a Nazi saboteur from sabotaging a Magnesium plant — was no better than the first two Fox films and in some ways, worse. Its clumsiness has been blamed on a military officer who had been assigned to "approve" the portrait of American defense, and who reportedly demanded the excision of every decent gag that even vaguely impugned the war effort. That all may well be so, but Stan and Ollie aren't all that funny in the scenes that don't infringe on that topic. Pretty much a misfire on all levels. Jitterbugs Released by 20th Century Fox, 11 Jun 1943 - 74 minutes This one is often hailed as the best of their post-Roach features, though that is the faintest-possible compliment. The Boys get hooked up with a con-artist and wind up in a plot to bilk the heroine (Vivian Blaine) of her fortune. The improved quality, such as it is, is generally attributed to a slightly-higher budget, since Fox was trying to build Ms. Blaine into a big star, and a new director. The prior credits of Malcolm St. Clair, which were primarily in broad comedy, should have made him an ideal choice. Then again, there are those who would argue that the talents of The Boys' directors never had much impact on the worth of their films, for better or worse. St. Clair may have helped...but the real reason this one rises (slightly) above the other Fox attempts lies in Hardy's wonderful scenes, playing the Southern gentleman and wooing Lee Patrick's character. As Stan and Ollie grew too old to pull off the wilder physical comedy — some of the stuntmen substitutions are amazingly awkward in their later films — they needed more of this kind of character comedy. Alas, in their late features, they rarely got anywhere near it...or any kind of comedy worthy of their names.
The Dancing Masters Released by 20th Century Fox, 19 Nov 1943 - 63 minutes Stan and Ollie are dance teachers at the "Arthur Hurry School of Dancing" with Hardy, for no visible reason, wearing a clown suit and Laurel clad in a ballerina's tutu. If you think the film is about dancing or masters, you're wrong. The dance teacher job is quickly forgotten about as The Boys get involved with a young inventor who is seeking to raise the cash that will enable him to woo and win the woman he loves. Along the way, they repeat a number of gags from earlier L&H films, even reaching back to Battle of the Century for a sequence in which Ollie tries to cash in on an insurance policy he's taken out on Stan. Eventually, they wind up posing as a foreign inventor and his interpreter and...well, by that point, we really don't care. Overall, The Dancing Masters represents more of an effort to replicate the old Laurel-Hardy magic (or at least to re-use old gags) than any other Fox film, but the results are no more satisfying. The Big Noise Released by 20th Century Fox, Sept 1944 - 74 minutes The Big Noise is often cited as The Boys' weakest feature...though I think a couple of other late ones are no better. The summary of this effort is generally along the lines of: "They have to deliver a bomb...and do." That pretty much is the plot, sad to say. They're janitors who are entrusted to transport a new explosive device and the hilarity never quite ensues...even though as before, a number of gags are lifted wholesale from the Roach pictures. Among them is a long sequence recycled from Berth Marks where The Boys try to undress and bed down in a railroad car upper berth...a routine that wasn't all that wonderful in the first place. Nothing But Trouble Released by MGM, Mar 1945 - 70 minutes Back at MGM — with no greater success than their last effort there — The Boys are servants working at an estate where they mistake a young prince-in-exile for an orphan and decide to take care of him. The lad is the target of assassins so Stan and Ollie get mixed up in that story of international intrigue and bad guys. About a dozen writers (including Buster Keaton) worked on the script so it's amazing how sluggish and unfunny it is. The Bullfighters Released by 20th Century Fox, 18 May 1945 - 69 minutes The last American screen appearance of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy was loaded with weak recyclings of gags from their earlier films and weaker supporting performances. It is also the only movie where they're really the villains: As private detectives (!), they testified against the wrong man and sent him to prison. When they visit Mexico on the trail of a lady criminal, they run into the man whose life they ruined and he vows revenge. In the meantime, Stan is mistaken for a famous matador who, by one of those incredible movie coincidences, happens to look just like him. This plunges the film into a sub-plot that becomes the dominant plot but still never quite manages to make sense or amuse. The storyline seems to be building up to what might have been a funny scene of Stan facing off against the bull but when it comes, it's quick and sloppily-done, poorly integrated with stock footage. It's almost as if the budget suddenly ran out and they had to wrap things up in a hurry. An ugly "freak" end gag provides the final discomfort in what most L&H buffs seem to feel is not quite their worst feature. I disagree. Atoll K Released in the U.S. by Exploitation Pictures, December 1954 - Approx. 98 minutes The Boys' last film was a sad affair, marginally more clever than their Fox features in intent but hampered by an inept director, a multi-lingual crew (with English sadly under-represented) and the obvious illnesses of both Stan and Babe. Stan was especially sick and his appearance in some scenes makes for painful viewing. It also managed to disrupt the shooting schedule of a movie that was already out of control, with filming dragging on for many extra months and scenes shot so far out of sequence (and with such long intervals between) that everyone pretty much managed to lose all track of continuity and plot. The premise is that The Boys inherit an island and set out to create the perfect society on it. Good idea...wrong people to attempt this. They fail — and so, despite equally noble goals, does the film, which was released in France in 1951, in other countries over the next few years and finally, briefly, in the U.S. in 1954 under the title of Utopia. By any name, it was a quick flop. Today, since it's public domain, it's constantly available in cheap home video versions of varying running times. Some of the shorter ones are actually better than the longer ones because they jettison tedious non-Laurel-Hardy scenes. At any length, it can be a hard thing for a dedicated fan of The Boys to endure.
The last professional filmed appearance of Stanley Laurel and Oliver Norvell Hardy (and the only one done for television) was a notorious episode of This Is Your Life. This was the much-parodied TV series that surprised celebrities, dragged them onstage for a live broadcast, and then recounted their biographies, bringing on guests from their past. Stan and Ollie were "caught" at a Hollywood hotel and then they were supposed to be brought across the street to the TV studio during the first commercial. As that ad ended, they had not arrived, leaving the nervous host, Ralph Edwards, to ad-lib uncomfortably for several minutes of live television before his subjects finally strode onto the stage. There seems to be some disagreement as to whether the delay was because Stan balked at the unscripted, unplanned appearance and had to be persuaded, or if it merely took too long for The Boys to walk there. In any case, neither was particularly cooperative or scintillating on the show, so it is easy to believe reports that the two men — Stan, especially — resented being dragged onto a TV show without pay or preparation. The program was, nonetheless, interesting...and sadly, it was their final turn before the public, for Hardy took ill soon after and passed away. Laurel — by choice, for he had several offers — opted to never perform again. They left behind an incredible body of very funny, timeless comedy. I hope this guide will enable someone to seek out and/or appreciate it a wee bit more.
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© 2007 Mark Evanier Hosted by Dreamhost |
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