Their Purple Moment

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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THEIR PURPLE MOMENT

Aspect ratio: 1.33:1

Sound format: Silent

(Black and white - Short film)

Two luckless nightclub revellers (Laurel and Hardy) are unable to pay their bill, provoking violent retribution from a hot-tempered waiter (Tiny Sandford).

Typical L&H scenario, less substantial than some of their best work from this period, but worth a look nonetheless. Stan takes center-stage this time round, caught up in a financial dilemma after holding back part of his wages to fund a night on the town, only to find out - too late! - that his aggrieved wife (Fay Holderness) has replaced his stash with worthless coupons. Some of the prolonged closeups of Laurel as he slowly becomes aware of the unfolding disaster reveal his genius for characterization and mime. 1920's morality is represented by Patsy O'Byrne, playing a hatchet-faced busy-body who takes great joy in alerting L&H's respective spouses (Holderness and Lyle Taho) to their husbands' bad behavior. The ending fizzles, but the movie still has much to recommend it. Directed by James Parrott.

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

For about three-fourths of the way, Their Purple Moment is a sharp, funny Laurel & Hardy comedy, albeit one with a distinctly sour take on married life. This is the first of the L&H domestic comedies, and sets the tone for much of what would follow: Stan and Ollie are each at the mercy of their domineering wives, a pair of hard-bitten shrews who treat them like children, promptly appropriate their paychecks, and deny them any pleasures. (Later on the wives would usually be more nuanced, sometimes even sympathetic, but in this early film they're quite mean.) In what would become a standard plot for the team, this film tells the sad story of what happens when the boys attempt to fool their spouses. Of course, the only question is just how disastrously the situation is going to backfire.

Here, Stan and Ollie tell the wives they're going bowling, then defiantly set out on a spree, under the delusion they've got lots of cash on hand. So when they encounter two attractive young ladies in distress, stuck with a bill they can't pay, naturally, they step in and gallantly offer to treat them to dinner. And it's all downhill from there!

The situation the boys blunder into is a well-constructed comic nightmare that steadily builds in intensity, and the sequence is genuinely suspenseful -- right up to the food-fight finale, which is such a fizzle it practically ruins the whole show. This is surprising, considering that, according to the various books on the team, a much more offbeat and imaginative ending was planned and filmed, but then jettisoned. The original finale utilized the midget troupe of entertainers who perform a floor show in the restaurant. In the earlier version, when the boys discover they have no money to pay their bill, they were to escape by disguising themselves as midgets -- midget women, at that -- and slip away with the troupe. The idea flirts with tastelessness, but it sure seems funnier and more memorable than the finale as it stands now.

Oh well. There are good reasons to watch and enjoy Their Purple Moment nonetheless, among them the famous gag of the uncle's portrait with the hidden pocket, the spirited performance of Patsy O'Byrne as the town gossip, and the always welcome presence of Anita Garvin, here playing a good-time gal who packs a knife. There's also a priceless close-up of Stan, when it dawns on him that he has no money to cover the ever-growing tab: in an extended shot he displays a remarkable range of expressions, from horror to befuddlement, to hope and despair and back again. He was the greatest!