Their Purple Moment

Once again I seem to be in the minority: I think that Their Purple Moment sees Laurel and Hardy in fine form. It starts with Stan (playing Mr. Pincher) being waylaid by his battle-axe wife at the front door, the woman demanding the poor guy's wages. However, Mr. Pincher has been holding back a few dollars from each pay packet in preparation for a special night out with his pal Ollie.

Pretending to be going ten-pin bowling, the two men sneak off for a wild time at a boozy joint where they hook up with a couple of young women. The foursome tuck into big steaks and pints of beer while enjoying a dancing midget cabaret act, but when it comes to settling the bill, Mr. Pincher realises that his wife has found his hidden cash and replaced it with grocery coupons.

Laurel's facial expressions after he discovers that he has no money are hilarious, alternating between confusion to utter dismay; Hardy's face is also a treat when he sees that they are skint. Together, the pair try to leave the establishment without paying, but must avoid their wive (who have tracked them down) while also dodging angry staff.

In addition to the funny expressions, the dancing midgets, and the angry sped-up wives striding down the street, viewers are also treated to Laurel doing one of his fancy tricks (catapulting a spoon into a glass), and a messy finalé in the kitchen that sees lots of grub being hurled (others seem to find the ending something of a let down, but I love a good food fight!).

Admittedly, the originally planned ending involving Stan and Ollie pretending to be midgets to escape the club might have been even better, but this is still worth at least 7/10 in my book.

The Laurel and Hardy team was now reasonably well established at this time in 1928,but for some reason THEIR PURPLE MOMENT takes one or two steps back;Stan is billed as 'Mr.Pincher'and not Mr.Laurel,and a proposed final scene involving an escape from the night club involving a midget troupe was removed before the film's release,and replaced with a rushed,rather(for L & H)hackneyed final pie throwing sequence.Still,there are some very funny moments,especially with a waiter who keeps on falling into a tray of mashed potatoes;these gags were reworked into the following year's THAT'S MY WIFE(1929).Edgar Kennedy was apparently in these deleted scenes.

For about three-fourths of the way, Their Purple Moment is a sharp, funny Laurel & Hardy comedy, albeit one with a distinctly sour take on married life. This is the first of the L&H domestic comedies, and sets the tone for much of what would follow: Stan and Ollie are each at the mercy of their domineering wives, a pair of hard-bitten shrews who treat them like children, promptly appropriate their paychecks, and deny them any pleasures. (Later on the wives would usually be more nuanced, sometimes even sympathetic, but in this early film they're quite mean.) In what would become a standard plot for the team, this film tells the sad story of what happens when the boys attempt to fool their spouses. Of course, the only question is just how disastrously the situation is going to backfire.

Here, Stan and Ollie tell the wives they're going bowling, then defiantly set out on a spree, under the delusion they've got lots of cash on hand. So when they encounter two attractive young ladies in distress, stuck with a bill they can't pay, naturally, they step in and gallantly offer to treat them to dinner. And it's all downhill from there!

The situation the boys blunder into is a well-constructed comic nightmare that steadily builds in intensity, and the sequence is genuinely suspenseful -- right up to the food-fight finale, which is such a fizzle it practically ruins the whole show. This is surprising, considering that, according to the various books on the team, a much more offbeat and imaginative ending was planned and filmed, but then jettisoned. The original finale utilized the midget troupe of entertainers who perform a floor show in the restaurant. In the earlier version, when the boys discover they have no money to pay their bill, they were to escape by disguising themselves as midgets -- midget women, at that -- and slip away with the troupe. The idea flirts with tastelessness, but it sure seems funnier and more memorable than the finale as it stands now.

Oh well. There are good reasons to watch and enjoy Their Purple Moment nonetheless, among them the famous gag of the uncle's portrait with the hidden pocket, the spirited performance of Patsy O'Byrne as the town gossip, and the always welcome presence of Anita Garvin, here playing a good-time gal who packs a knife. There's also a priceless close-up of Stan, when it dawns on him that he has no money to cover the ever-growing tab: in an extended shot he displays a remarkable range of expressions, from horror to befuddlement, to hope and despair and back again. He was the greatest!

THEIR PURPLE MOMENT

Aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Sound format: Silent

(Black and white - Short film)

Two luckless nightclub revellers (Laurel and Hardy) are unable to pay their bill, provoking violent retribution from a hot-tempered waiter (Tiny Sandford).

Typical L&H scenario, less substantial than some of their best work from this period, but worth a look nonetheless. Stan takes center-stage this time round, caught up in a financial dilemma after holding back part of his wages to fund a night on the town, only to find out - too late! - that his aggrieved wife (Fay Holderness) has replaced his stash with worthless coupons. Some of the prolonged closeups of Laurel as he slowly becomes aware of the unfolding disaster reveal his genius for characterization and mime. 1920's morality is represented by Patsy O'Byrne, playing a hatchet-faced busy-body who takes great joy in alerting L&H's respective spouses (Holderness and Lyle Taho) to their husbands' bad behavior. The ending fizzles, but the movie still has much to recommend it. Directed by James Parrott.

Stan and Ollie decide to hold back a few bucks from their weekly paychecks so they can save up and have a night on the town (without their wives!)... When they finally embark on their secret evening of fun, they alight on two girls outside a restaurant who have been stood up. Convinced that they are flush; they offer to bankroll them and after a rather nice dinner discover that their secret evening has been anything but.... and that they have nothing to pay the bills with but coupons! It gets off to quite a good start, but the ending let's it down quite badly. Anita Garvin & Kay Deslys are good as the gals and the music has a few recognisable bars from "Baby Face' and "Ain't She Sweet"