Andy's Film Blog: Laurel & Hardy

Showing posts with label Laurel & Hardy. Show all posts

Monday, September 11, 2017

Sons of the Desert

When their fraternity announces a beer-soaked convention in Chicago, Stan and Ollie know they must be in attendance which means spinning a tale about needing a medical sabbatical in Honolulu. The duo realize the jig is up when the front pages report of the Hawaii ocean liner overturning and they now must hide from their exceedingly angry and heavily armed wives and concoct an even greater whopper. Hal Roach produced Sons of the Desert is laugh out loud funny made with incessant pratfalls, muggings, misunderstandings, idiocy, and stretching of a gag as far as it will go.

*** ½ out of ****

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Saps at Sea

After suffering nervous exhaustion from working in a horn making factory, Ollie is urged by his doctor to take it easy and Stan has a brilliant idea: recuperate for a spell on a boat trip. With Ollie holding a fear of the open seas, the two decide to rent a boat and stay dockside with their pet goat they use for nourishment and, unbeknownst to them, a notorious convict stowed away in bows of the boat! When the goat chews through the lines and the boat is cast at sea, Stan and Ollie must devise a way to rid themselves of Nasty Nick before he does the same. In the days of the two and a half hour, gross out, yet cheaply sentimentalized comedies, I more than ever long for the one-reel comic entertainments of the 20s and 30s, especially those done by Hal Roach and Laurel and Hardy. Along with many of their other films, "Saps at Sea" is unassuming and features outrageous gags and great comic timing between the duo.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Way Out West

Laurel and Hardy head off to an Old West town to deliver a mining deed to the daughter of their recently deceased prospecting partner. Upon arrival at the local saloon, the two are swindled by the owner who passes his troubadour wife off as the recipient. Soon, Stan and Ollie get wise, and the manic antics and wild pratfalls ensue. "Way Out West" is a thoroughly delightful film from Laurel and Hardy which offers several different aspects to appreciate. The duo's chemistry is sublime and many of their gags come off splendidly such as when Ollie routinely falls into a river dropoff or when the two use a horse for leverage to lift themselves into a second story window. The film also contains several wonderful musical interludes, the best of which where Stan and Ollie sing and two-step to the sounds of a hee-haw band. "Way Out West" is a supreme example of an early talkie comedy as well as a fine film from the classic duo.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

The Music Box

Laurel and Hardy decide to start a transport business and their first job is to move a piano up an extremely high flight of stairs. That's really all the plot detail need to be known, and although the movie is as simple as that, the concept is milked by the duo for all its worth resulting in consistently uproarious results. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy made a wonderful duo and couldn't have been more different, Stan thin and proper from England and Ollie rotund and slobbish from Georgia. Perhaps it was these differences that helped to make them so funny here. I loved how sometimes you could see the pratfalls coming a mile away and other times they surprised you, both with the same hilarious results. I also love the work of Billy Gilbert as Professor Theodore von Schwarzenhoffen whom the duo come to annoy. Of all the so called comedies I've seen so far this year combined, they do not even begin to approach the belly laughs of this wonderful and hilarious 30 minute film.