Poursuite à Luna-Park

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.

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.

The first thing you'll probably notice about this silent Laurel and Hardy film is how ugly the print is. Considering that so many of the early nitrate stock films have completely vanished, try to cut the film some slack--at least it's still in one piece unlike the mostly lost HATS OFF by the same team.

You'll also no doubt notice that Stan and Ollie don't in any way look like a team. They play different personas than you're used to seeing and they both even have different hair styles. This is because the team wasn't exactly a team yet. They'd made some films together but the familiar Laurel and Hardy formula was still in the future. Here, the film is more a film where they and James Finlayson star--a trio instead of a duo.

The final thing you'll probably notice is that the film appears to have lost the final few minutes. It all ends very abruptly and nothing is really achieved. My guess is that as much as five minutes are missing from this print--which happens to be the best extant prints of this early film.

James Finlayson plays a hard-drinking rich playboy. He awakens with one of the scariest hangovers I've ever seen and is shocked to find from his butler, Oliver Hardy, that he got married the night before to a gold-digger. She and her family are waiting downstairs to blackmail Fin into a settlement. Finlayson calls his attorney, Stan Laurel, and the three of them really achieve nothing when they talk to the family.

Rather abruptly, the scene switches to the beach. It seems the three escaped and are hiding out, though the blackmailers are soon at their heels. What ensues isn't all that funny (with Laurel and Finlayson pretending to be one ugly lady) and they are chased through a fun house. Then, oddly, it all just ends very, very abruptly with no resolution.

If you have seen the Thelma Todd/Zasu Pitts short ON THE LOOSE, then you might just recognize the fun house--it sure is a dead ringer for the one here. However, ON THE LOOSE is a very good film and SUGAR DADDIES really is only of interest to devoted fans of Laurel and Hardy like myself. Others beware--it's choppy and not particularly funny.

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

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.