Sugar Daddies

Two nights ago, I saw this film at the Old Town Music Hall in El Segundo, California. The theater was filled with college students who were there for an extra credit assignment. It can pretty safely be assumed that none of them had seen this film before, and probably have seen very little of Laurel and Hardy.

The point of all this is that this film got big laughs from this audience. All the way through. As a huge Laurel and Hardy fan myself, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this early example of their work being so appreciated by a modern audience. Just goes to show, funny is always funny regardless of time and place.

Sugar Daddies (1927)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

A millionaire (James Finlayson) wakes up after a night of partying to discover that he's now married. The new bride and her crazy brother are now trying to blackmail him so he calls his attorney (Stan Laurel) to settle the matter. Not too many laughs here but the thing is fun nonetheless. Oliver Hardy plays the butler.

Early to Bed (1928)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Hardy becomes rich overnight and offers his best friend Laurel a job as his butler. Money soon goes to Hardy's head and he come home picking on Laurel. This is a very unfunny film and certainly the worst I've seen from L&H. The two have absolutely no chemistry whatsoever, which really kills things. Most of the jokes come off annoying and not funny.

James Finlayson gets equal billing with Stan and Ollie for this one, and ends up doing a lot of work for it! Finlayson plays rich man Cyrus Brittle who awakes after a night out to discover he's been wed to a woman who wants his money. Actually, it's her brother who ends up doing most of the chasing. Mr. Hardy plays the butler, and Mr. Laurel is very Chaplinesque at times as Brittle's attorney. The first half of the film is a comedy of manners, with many amusing title cards. Perhaps this section would have benefited from sound technology, but nonetheless it's still packed with laughs. There is an abrupt change in the middle ("One week later" - perhaps the reel change point?) and suddenly Finlayson's discovered hiding at a swank hotel and it's up to Stan and Ollie to sneak him out. Stan spends most of the movie riding piggyback on Finlayson, camoflaged as Ollie's wife. And it really does look like Finlayson carried Stan around - you can tell that's not a stunt man, at least not all the time. Incredible stuff, and quite funny. George Stevens, the young cinematographer, contributes some pre-steadicam handheld tracking shots which are somewhat shaky but visually different... although I did notice that most of these shots follow the villains, not the protagonists. I was worried that I might not find Laurel, Hardy, and Finlayson as funny without their wonderful vocal humor, but this film proves they're all equally adept at physical comedy. I laughed quite heartily throughout.

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.

'Sugar Daddies' is nowhere near classic Laurel and Hardy, later films, short and feature, had stronger chemistry when fully formed and used their considerable talents better. At this point, Laurel was much funnier and more interesting while Hardy in especially the previous two outings of theirs had too little to do. 'Sugar Daddies' is still worth watching though and is an improvement on some of their previous short films, along with 'Duck Soup' and 'While Girls Love Sailors' it was Laurel and Hardy's best up to this point.

Personally would have liked more sly wit, more scenes with Laurel and Hardy together and Hardy having more screen time.

The story is a bit busy at times and both slight and formulaic and it ends too suddenly and feels incomplete.

Laurel however is very funny, and sometimes hilarious, like as was said for a few of his previous outings 'Sugar Daddies' is worth seeing for him alone. James Finlayson is great and has nice chemistry with Laurel. Despite saying above about Hardy's screen time being too short he is at least not wasted, and he does give one of his funniest and most interesting appearances of his pairings with Laurel up to this point. There is not enough of him and Laurel together and one can see glimpses.

A good deal of the humour is well timed, hugely energetic and very funny, with everything going at a lively pace, and there is a lot of charm and good nature to keep one going. 'Sugar Daddies' looks quite good as well with some quite inventive camera work.

To conclude, decent. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Not sure if you can actually regard this movie as being a 'Laurel & Hardy' movie. Yes, sure they are both in the movie and act together in most of the sequences but they don't really act together as a comedy duo yet in this one. Guess its also fair to say that the real main character of the movie is James Finlayson.

But even though they're not really a comedy duo in this movie yet the quality of the movie itself is great and makes this movie rank among their best of the '20's.

The movie has a great variety of comical moments and slapstick comedy. The movie begins at the Finlayson residence. When he wakes up he is informed by his butler (Oliver Hardy) that he got married to a woman, in a drunk mood, no doubt. After this, his lawyer (Stan Laurel) is called to straighten things. Unfortunately for them, the brides brother, who steals and kills for pleasure only wants his sister to divorce if Finlayson pays her $50.000, as a financial settlement. Finlayson refuses and hides in a hotel with Laurel & Hardy, until they are of course are found by the brother and the rest of the family. What follows is an hilarious chase on a carnival, that was later redone again in the movie "On the Loose", also starring Laurel & Hardy in a small cameo appearance.

In between the movie has some great comical moments, that are original and brought well to the screen. Some of the camera-work is quite experimental at times. It works different and in a way also makes this movie distinct itself from other Laurel & Hardy movies. For most part of the movie Finlayson is hidden under Stan's dress, who is piggyback riding him and is dressed as Olie's wife to fool the in-laws. It's not the last time they used this simple comical premise in a movie and it works just as hilarious as always. It guarantees some great comical moments and big laughs.

The pace is very high. The movie never takes a rest, with as a result that the movie is an almost non-stop laugh-fest, that you don't want to end.

Even though they don't act together as a comedy duo yet, the performances from the boys is outstanding. It shows that they were great actors and could be funny, even when they were acting independently from each other. James Finlayson was great as always and so was Noah Young as the brother in-law, who also acted in several other Laurel & Hardy shorts, in similar like roles.

A surprisingly good and creative early silent Laurel & Hardy comedy short.

8/10

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