Leur instant d'humiliation

While I had actually never heard about this 1928 short silent film titled "Their Purple Moment", I needed no persuasion to sit down and watch it, as it was a Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy movie after all.

Writers H. M. Walker and Stan Laurel put together a nice script and straightforward storyline. It was pretty much an archetypical Laurel and Hardy movie, for better or worse.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and you know what you are getting from the comedy duo of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. The only familiar faces on the cast list were Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, not a surprise really, as I have not been overly much watching movies this old.

Enjoyable and funny, "Their Purple Moment" is definitely one for the fans of Laurel and Hardy.

My rating of directors James Parrott and Fred Guiol's 1928 "Their Purple Moment" lands on a five out of ten stars.

This is another of Laurel & Hardy's early shorts that I watched on Hulu as linked from IMDb. This seems to be the first time they have wives that boss them around so they have to sneak around in order to have some fun like later on in films like Be Big or Sons of the Desert. In this one, Stan & Ollie go to a restaurant after a couple of men run out on their dates so the boys volunteer to help pay for the women (Kay Deslys, Anita Garvin) left behind. But both men find out their wives took their money without them knowing. And the gossiping woman, seeing them all there, goes back to tell the spouses what's what. I'll stop there and just say that not much funny happens until the food fight that ends the picture. It replaced an earlier sequence that involved Stan & Ollie dressing as women that was filmed but I'm guessing that's now lost. There's a still from that scene in Randy Skrevedt's book "Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies". On that point, Their Purple Moment is at least worth a look.

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.

Their Purple Moment (1928)

*** (out of 4)

Laurel and Hardy hold out some of their pay so that they can go out on the town but their wives find their hiding spot. When the boys are out they run up a tab and must find a way out. There are plenty of laughs here including a wonderfully funny food fight at the end as well as a nice sequence with the two trying to sneak out of a restaurant.

I viewed this in the UK, 21-disc set, which is a dream come true for fans of Laurel and Hardy. The price has recently dropped on the set so any fan should certainly look into picking it up.

This is a comedy that lacks some good laughs. Even though the movie still is good and enjoyable entertainment of course, I don't think I laughed even once. This is probably due to the fact that the movie doesn't have any slapstick moments in it and instead relies on just one comical situations the boys has got themselves into.

The main plot line is pretty funny but it's a bit tiresome to base the entire movie around this one plot line. It's well acted out and constructed but it basically is too much of the same the whole time.

The settings are pretty enjoyable. It gives us a good view into the late '20's night life. A life which we normally only know from movies who tried to recreate the atmosphere and settings from that period. But this movie is the real stuff and therefor it's still a pretty interesting watch. The atmosphere and settings are probably the only reason why this movie is still good to watch present day.

There are some good comical constructed moments in the movie but it's all not enough to make this movie a grand and excelling Laurel & Hardy silent short.

6/10

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