Their Purple Moment

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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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.

Once again I seem to be in the minority: I think that Their Purple Moment sees Laurel and Hardy in fine form. It starts with Stan (playing Mr. Pincher) being waylaid by his battle-axe wife at the front door, the woman demanding the poor guy's wages. However, Mr. Pincher has been holding back a few dollars from each pay packet in preparation for a special night out with his pal Ollie.

Pretending to be going ten-pin bowling, the two men sneak off for a wild time at a boozy joint where they hook up with a couple of young women. The foursome tuck into big steaks and pints of beer while enjoying a dancing midget cabaret act, but when it comes to settling the bill, Mr. Pincher realises that his wife has found his hidden cash and replaced it with grocery coupons.

Laurel's facial expressions after he discovers that he has no money are hilarious, alternating between confusion to utter dismay; Hardy's face is also a treat when he sees that they are skint. Together, the pair try to leave the establishment without paying, but must avoid their wive (who have tracked them down) while also dodging angry staff.

In addition to the funny expressions, the dancing midgets, and the angry sped-up wives striding down the street, viewers are also treated to Laurel doing one of his fancy tricks (catapulting a spoon into a glass), and a messy finalé in the kitchen that sees lots of grub being hurled (others seem to find the ending something of a let down, but I love a good food fight!).

Admittedly, the originally planned ending involving Stan and Ollie pretending to be midgets to escape the club might have been even better, but this is still worth at least 7/10 in my book.

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!

Stan and Ollie decide to hold back a few bucks from their weekly paychecks so they can save up and have a night on the town (without their wives!)... When they finally embark on their secret evening of fun, they alight on two girls outside a restaurant who have been stood up. Convinced that they are flush; they offer to bankroll them and after a rather nice dinner discover that their secret evening has been anything but.... and that they have nothing to pay the bills with but coupons! It gets off to quite a good start, but the ending let's it down quite badly. Anita Garvin & Kay Deslys are good as the gals and the music has a few recognisable bars from "Baby Face' and "Ain't She Sweet"