The Lucky Dog

I can't complain too much, since I picked up 14 Laurel & Hardy films for $6, but I am disappointed in this cut. The movie is missing the entire second half, cutting off at the point where Stan has Babe stuck in the plank fence.

This version (Platinum Disc) is also totally without title cards, so it lacks the infamous line 'Put 'em both up, insect, or I'll comb your hair with lead!' that marked the first dialogue to take place between the greatest comedy team who ever made movies.

Still, for six bucks, I'm glad to have even this fragmentary version, though I will certainly seek the full film, in the future.

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.

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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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

Oliver Hardy was a character actor who had played in dozens of movies, mostly villains, when he first appeared in the same movie as the British comic Stan Laurel. The 31-year-old Laurel had recently changed his name from Stan Jefferson because it contained an unlucky 13 letters on the advice of his girlfriend and sometimes stage partner, Mae Dahlberg. Gilbert 'Billy Bronco' Anderson had sold his partnership in Essanay Studios and was looking to begin a comedy serial headlining the up-and-coming Laurel. His new small studio produced a pilot, December 1921's "The Lucky Dog," in an attempt to sell to sponsors the series 'Stan Laurel Comedies.'

It was simply happenstance Hardy was brought in to play a robber and the bad guy in "The Lucky Dog." He was freelancing for several studios and was hired to play the foil for Laurel's character. In the short film, Laurel plays a homeless person who befriends a dog and first meets Hardy robbing his victim. Hardy then robs Laurel of the money he had taken from his initial victim. Such are the roustabout frivolities taking place throughout the remainder of the movie.

Anderson's dream of a serial with Laurel didn't materialize, but the two did collaborate on several shorts afterwards. As for Hardy, he eventually signed with Hal Roach Studios in 1924 before appearing in a handful of films directed by none other than Stan Laurel in the mid-1920's.