Twice Two

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy reached their creative best with Twice Two where they their usual selves and female counterparts. It seems as though Stan and Ollie have married each other's sister and both think it was a great idea as it cements the relationship of the two.

They might have to rethink the notion as a family dinner at the Laurels proves a disaster. The female Ollie falls into a cake during the preparation. There's also a great gag with simply Stan using Ollie's key to open the front door. I won't say more but I think it's a tribute to both of them, especially Stan the creative one that they could get so many laughs with a simple act all of us but shut-ins do nearly every day.

Of course with the female personas half the credit should go to the actresses who provided the voices for the characters. May Wallace for Stan and Carol Tevis for Ollie perfectly match those familiar bodies in drag.

Offspring from these unions would be called double cousins. Just think what those kids might be like.

I hadn't seen this L&H "Twice Two" before but I find myself re-watching it on my DVR as a better effort by them than some of their other better-known short films. Yes, the dubbing of the womens' voices is not perfect but that is hardly a problem. There is so much more that IS good: The sound effects are great - when Stan's wife (played by Ollie) gets a cake dumped on her - twice - or when eating supper and she claims the noise she is making is not her slurping the soup, but "it's my asthma..." and then lets loose with a noise that sounds like an elephant snorting through a ditch pipe. Of course Ollie's reaction to his sister's 'asthma' noise is a puzzled stare into the camera.

Stanley was great too, playing Ollie's wife. You have to watch closely but he made some of the best faces I've ever seen him do.

I'll never say it's their very best but this is much better than some L&H things that I've seen. Late in their career Oliver Hardy seemed to be too fat to do the physical comedy and the stories were not even believable from a comedy standpoint. This early short is funny and I enjoyed it.

I think this film has some amazing acting. As others have noted, Laurel plays himself and also his own sister. Hardy does the same. But - the women characters they portray are different to the male Laurel and Hardy. The women characters are not Laurel and Hardy "in drag". They really are playing 4 different people.

The dubbing of the women's voices is perfect, in my opinion. The women who dubbed the voices really capture the feeling of Laurel and Hardy. They are great. The syncronicity of the dubbing is awesome.

I also think the photography - scenes when the four characters are having dinner together - is great. They really create the illusion of four separate people talking and bickering.

I don't want to risk spoiling anything for anyone and so I will not describe any of the truly funny scenes featuring each of these characters.

Suffice it to say that the film is very funny.

There are certain clichés that almost every comedian has done some time. One of them is dressing as the opposite sex and in this film you get to see how well Laurel & Hardy manage to entertain as ladies. The best individual concept in this bit is the fact that the pair has married each others sisters, who both "unfortunately" look like their brothers. Mr Hardy is very "Ollie" when he even states about his wedding day "It was the happiest day of my life." The best in this film are the insults that the two "ladies" present to each other. Some people might not necessarily find the insults enjoyable, but they are definitely something you never hear in other Laurel & Hardy films. Not their best film, but despite the possible not-very-good-taste element, among the funniest "men as women" flicks ever.

Stan and Ollie have both married into each others family's, to celebrate their respective wedding anniversaries, dinner is arranged.

Seeing both Stan and Ollie in drag, side splitting, incredibly funny scenes, showing the two legends were happy enough to explore any avenue to get the laughs. It does seem somewhat strange that the guys would go for each others sisters, but it's true what they say, it's a funny old world.

Plenty of laughs to enjoy here, for such a short film, it really does pack in the laughs, still the best physical humour you could imagine.

Cleverly filmed, managing to get the dual characters on screen at the same time, in 1933 that was a real triumph.

The voice overs work a treat, they are so outlandish, so wonderfully over the top, they seem to capture the spirit of Laurel and Hardy very well.

It was fun to discover they Fanny and Sandy were as clumsy and accident prone as their respects brothers.

9/10.