Their Purple Moment

HAVING MADE SOME real progress after their almost accidental teaming as members of what was called THE HAL ROACH ALL-STARS, most of the now familiar L & H situational comedic routines had been established. THEIR PURPLE MOMENT does a lot in defining their eternal struggle with "the Wives."

IN A DRAMATIC SORT of departure from what they had been doing, Stan is called "Mr. Pincher" (for 'penny pincher' we presume); but Ollie retains his own name. This is a kind of throwback to pictures such as PUTTING PANTS ON PHILLIP and DO DETECTIVES THINK?, in which their own names appeared only in the credits.

THERE ARE DEGFINITE symptoms of a maturation of not the LAUREL & HARDY characters; but rather of the HAL ROACH style. The comedies became more and more slow-paced, methodically developed and much more "believable." The Title Cards, most ably written by Roach regular, H.M. Walker, were as witty and clever as ever. But there was none of the going for the laugh outside of the existing story on he scene; as was the practice over at Mack Sennett's KEYSTONE Studios.

THE TYPICAL INTERPLAY that the boys are brought into are typically L & H type of double-edged gag and tit for tat back and forth "Bow & Fiddle", back and forth developing and milking of each gag to its greatest potential. Reliance on Stan's dim-wittedness and Ollie's slow burn were not only appreciated by this point, but rather they were now anticipated.

THE ACTION IN the first three quarters of the picture builds and serves as exposition of both the storyline; as well as the boys themselves. Although they are always the same twosome, there is very little continuity of situations from one short to another.*

IF THERE WOULD be any area of criticism that we could be the ending; which atypically leaves things just a little flat.

BUT SCHULTZ THINKS that this is a minor shortcoming. And Schultz's compadre, this writer, whole heartedly agrees.

NOTE: * In all of their shorts, only the sound comedy two-reelers TIT FOR TAT and THEM THAR HILLS makes mention of the earlier of the two movies and references having met both Charlie Hall and Mae Bush as previous protagonists.

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.

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 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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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.

After their previous 1928 efforts saw a step in the right direction and the two were starting to hit their stride while still evolving, 'Their Purple Moment' sees a couple of steps backwards and something of a disappointment. Certainly far from terrible and it is a long way from a misfire of theirs (up to this point '45 Minutes from Hollywood' was the only one to fit this distinction), but 'Their Purple Moment' is far from a gem. It is a shame because their previous 1928 efforts were so promising and the concept here was not a bad one.

Laurel and Hardy's work was never known to have particularly great stories, which tended to be the weakest element. 'Their Purple Moment' is no exception, on top of being flimsy it is also more predictable, hackneyed and repetitive than most with outcomes being easily foreseeable and some of the content being hit and miss as well as rather repetitive at times.

The pace sometimes could have been tighter. 'Their Purple Moment's' weak link is the ending, a real fizzler that is rushed, uninspired and somewhat tasteless.

On the other hand, Laurel and Hardy are more than very amusing, particularly Laurel, and they work well together. Three quarters of 'Their Purple Moment' does mostly amuse and has some fun and well timed moments and gags.

It's not dull, is competently directed, has a nice supporting cast and holds up quite well visually.

All in all, definitely worthwhile but not a Laurel and Hardy essential. 6/10 Bethany Cox