The Revenge of the Sons of the Desert

An excellent documentary about The Sons of the Desert. Sandy Marshall attended the 1986 S.O.D. convention in Philadelphia (actually Valley Forge, PA) and created this film. I was fortunate enough to be the registrar for the convention, since I was a bored member (that's right!) of the Two Tars Tent (Philadelphia chapter) of the Sons at the time. You can see me in the film in several shots, including giving a toast to Mae Bush and Charlie Hall at one of the banquets.

There are stars galore in the film, including Lois Laurel (Stan's daughter), Rosina Lawrence, Mae Questel (voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl), Dorothy DeBorba (Our Gang's Little Echo), The Nighthawks Orchestra, and many others.

The film captures the half-assed dignity of the Sons conventions, right down to the cocktails. I was pleased to see that it was finally released on DVD, included in the Laurel and Hardy Collection, Vol. 1, along with three movies; Great Guns, Jitterbugs, and The Big Noise. They are not the best movies from the boys, but I guess it is just another purple moment, not teaming their best film, Sons of the Desert, with a documentary ABOUT The Sons of the Desert! Buy the collection and then buy another collection including Sons of the Desert. You can't have too many L&H films!

I never saw this documentary when it first came out and that is a bit of a surprise since I am a huge Laurel and Hardy fan. However, I recently obtained a three DVD set of Fox's later Laurel and Hardy films (you know, the bad ones they made in the 1940s) and this short documentary was an included bonus feature.

Well, given that I love the team, watching a Sons of the Desert convention from the 1980s was pretty interesting to me. I was already aware of the organization as well as its founder, John McCabe--as McCabe wrote the definitive book about the films of Stan and Ollie AND started the fan club--listing its bylaws in his book as well. So for me, it was great and watching all the geeky people dressing and acting like the boys made me laugh.

However, with very low production values and a sketchy format, I doubt if anyone but Laurel and Hardy fans would be much interested in the documentary. Especially since it comes off looking like someone's home movie. Fortunately, though, if you buy the gift set, you probably ARE the right audience. All others need not watch.