Dick und Doof im Flegelalter

This is the very first movie with Laurel & Hardy as a comical duo, even though the two appear as enemies in this movie instead as friends. So I don't really consider this movie as a Laurel & Hardy picture.

The first halve of the movie is the best. Stanley Laurel plays the maim character in the movie and he yet again gets himself into some silly trouble. Ironicaly from the moments Oliver Hardy makes his entrance the movie goes downhill. The movie starts to get incoherent and messy, especially in the final few sequences.

Of course this movie is historically still an interesting to watch, since its the first movie in which Laurel & Hardy appear together in sequences. So for fans this still remains a sort of a must-see. Also fans of the early slapstick humor will still find plenty to enjoy in this movie. The movie is certainly better than the most other slapstick movies, made from the same period. For everyone else this movie probably remains a messy, incoherent silent comedy short that isn't really worth watching.

6/10

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The date of "The Lucky Dog" is uncertain; it has traditionally been given as 1917, but it has been suggested that it may have been shot as late as 1921. Stan Laurel here plays a down-on-his-luck young man who is thrown out of his lodgings for not paying his rent. He is held up by a robber and twice narrowly avoids being run over by a tram. His only friend is a stray dog who befriends him. The dog, however, proves to be his lucky charm, as it is through the dog that he meets a dog-loving young lady. The dog also saves his life from the girl's jealous boyfriend who is plotting to blow him up with the assistance of the robber.

There is nothing specially interesting about the film, which lacks the inventiveness and the slapstick brilliance of many silent shorts from this period, It has, however, become famous because of an accident of history. It was the first film to star both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, although they had not yet become a comedy partnership. In most of their films they play close friends, work colleagues or business partners, but here Ollie plays the robber who holds Stan up and later conspires with the jealous boyfriend. Had these two not gone on to become the famous duo of Laurel and Hardy, this film would doubtless today be forgotten.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were comedic geniuses, individually and together, and their partnership was deservedly iconic and one of the best there was. They left behind a large body of work, a vast majority of it being entertaining to classic comedy, at their best they were hilarious and their best efforts were great examples of how to do comedy without being juvenile or distasteful.

'The Lucky Dog' is most notable for being of historical interest, in that it was the first time Laurel and Hardy featured together on film and where this legendary partnership was born. That is the main reason to see it, but there is more to 'The Lucky Dog' for that to be the only reason for watching. There are some good elements here and it's fun to watch but Laurel and Hardy definitely went on to much better things when their style and such were properly settled.

It is amusing with some well-engineered slapstick, but later efforts were much funnier (to a more consistent level) and inventive. It would have benefitted from sharper timing and more wit and the predictability factor was high with easily foreseeable outcomes. The story is very flimsy and tends to be too busy and towards the end confused.

Do agree that 'The Lucky Dog' gets very messy in storytelling and coherence of the action towards the end, which makes the second half less enjoyable than the promising first. There is a sense of "yet to find its feet".

However, the two are on good form and their chemistry is great fun to watch. Laurel has more to do and has the funnier material which he sinks his teeth into, but Hardy is suitably formidable and his comic timing is just as good in his own way.

First half is very promising and where the best of the humour comes from. The best parts are well-timed and very amusing. 'The Lucky Dog' is never dull and there's a lot of energy, despite being too busy in latter stages. Technically and visually, while not exactly refined, 'The Lucky Dog' is quite good and the direction is competent.

In summary, worth the look and interesting but not Laurel and Hardy at their best

Context is important. The first time I saw this film, it was part of Image Entertainment's "Lost Films of Laurel and Hardy" DVD series years ago. In that set, the film was presented alongside their repertoire of better-known, far superior work that they produced several years later at the Hal Roach lot as a team. It's important to keep in mind that in this film they are not at Roach, and years ahead of their official teaming.

At this point in his career, Laurel is an up-and-coming vaudeville performer, a veteran of Fred Karno's English music hall troupe and understudy for Charlie Chaplin prior to his film career. He has appeared in relatively few films. Hardy, conversely, is a seasoned and professional film comedian, having spent most of the previous five or six years in hundreds of films, probably all comedies. Often he played the villain, sometimes another supporting role, and, in his "Pudge and Runt" comedies with Billy Ruge, the star.

I just saw "The Lucky Dog" in sequence with many of the other films that either Laurel or Hardy appeared in during that time. In that context, one has to marvel at the amazing coincidence of this film's mere existence. For example, the false mustache Hardy sports in this film is larger but otherwise similar to the real one he bore in his later appearances with Laurel, after they teamed. It was the only time that I've seen at this point in his career that he wore a smallish, square mustache.

Laurel proves to be a competent and charming comedian on his own, but the film comes to life when the two appear together. Their screen relationship is apparently from the start. Hardy plays a burglar who resolves to wipe out Laurel once the latter turns in defiance of him. Unlike his many other roles as the heavy during this period, Hardy comes off as bumbling and oafish a bully as he does years later, Laurel is as blithe and unintimidated in the face of this imposing man as we remember him from the team's heyday.

When the two appear together, they appear as two kids playing, and we in the audience share in their delight. It does seem like the appearance of Hardy in the second, more rare half of the film, seems to have been inserted as an afterthought, as though the director realized how funny and natural the two of them were together, and decided to use Hardy in another scene with Laurel. One can imagine a scene in real life, just as the one depicted in the film, where Hardy, in his burglar outfit, appears to be leaving the film when the director (or, in the context of the film, the villain) cries out to him - "hey you -- get back here!"

It is worth noting that for all of the times Hardy becomes frustrated with Laurel's character in the team's heyday, this is the only film in which we get to see Hardy literally beat the crap out of Laurel. One scene briefly features Hardy thrashing about a Laurel stuffed dummy to comic effect.

One has to wonder if producer "Bronco Billy" Anderson spent the last 40some years of his life kicking himself for not having teamed these two back in 1919 when this film was produced. It appears someone must have noticed how well the two worked as a team. It seems tragic that we lost so much potential work with them, but we can also be thankful for what they did leave us. It's no slouch by any standard.

So, here it is - Stan Laurel alongside Oliver Hardy in a film for the first time. The first on-screen words Oliver Hardy speaks to his future partner are: "Stick 'em both up, insect, before I comb your hair with lead." It seems that Mr Stanley Laurel has gone too far this time - has Ollie had enough even before they've started?

Well, if Mr Hardy had said this in a typical Laurel & Hardy comedy, it might seem that way, although the outcome would of course be very different, with these two ever-endearing square pegs continuing together on their awkward journey through life - me and my pal. But this isn't a typical comedy from the Masters of Mirth; this is essentially a Stan Laurel showcase, where he plays a snappily ebullient, natty juvenile, who picks up a stray dog and is accused by its owners of 'dog-napping'; Oliver Hardy displays his formidable and well-used talents as a rough looking 'heavy', or villain. Their two scenes together only indicate a little of what was to come, but the film is fascinating if only to view the two greatest comedians of all time sharing the screen about six years before they officially became a team, at a time when Stan "didn't think ... there was much future in pictures" as far as he was concerned, and both could only dream of the huge artistic heights they would scale and immeasurable critical and popular success they would only enjoy to a relatively small extent in their lifetimes, compared to the esteem they are held in today. Although it may be slight as a creative accomplishment, being only a pleasant film experience, and even though it really had no overall impact on Laurel & Hardy's development or existence as a team, this film should not be overlooked, as it is a very important part of film history, bringing together for the first time the funniest men ever to appear in any medium.