Perché le ragazze amano i marinai

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were both under contract with Hal Roach Studios in the late 1920s. However, they were not a team but separate acts who just happened to appear in some movies together before Roach realized they would make a good team. Because of this, most of the films they made in 1927 didn't have the same chemistry as later films and they often worked against each other in the films--being enemies such as in SAILORS BEWARE, FROM SOUP TO NUTS and this film. While these were pretty good films, they really don't seem at all like Laurel and Hardy films.

In WHY GIRLS LOVE SAILORS, Stanley's girlfriend is kidnapped and taken aboard a very rough boat filled with some tough characters--one of the meanest of which is first mate, Oliver Hardy. Ollie looks very different in this film--without the trademark mustache and sporting a very stubbly face. Plus, it's one of the few films from 1927 on where he was a real villain--something he did regularly in his earlier films. Since Stanley can't possibly overpower the entire crew, he uses his wits (and a dress) to outsmart them--leading to an eventual "boss battle" with the captain at the end of the film.

This film excels due to good writing, some clever gags and because it's so gosh-darn different. Fans of the team are encouraged to find this one and see a truly unusual Laurel and Hardy film.

Like a lot of Laurel & Hardy's silent movies, you need to be in the right frame of mind to view them – i.e. you need to watch them not expecting the usual huge quota of belly laughs found in Laurel & Hardy films. I watched this film expecting to be, as is usually the case, reduced to a shivering wreck, but was slightly disappointed. However, when I watched it again, I was surprised at how much I was laughing, especially at Stan's little display at the start of the film to impress his love, and at his excellent capacity for drag later in the film. Oliver Hardy is, as usual, brilliantly underplaying his role and is suitably menacing as the 'heavy', and the little scene he shares with Stan is charming, sometimes touching, making one wonder why it took as long as it did for them to be paired.

This is a little delight of a film, which is made even better (as are all the silent films) with the addition of wonderful recreations of the Shields and Hatley tunes by the Beau Hunks orchestra – those who own a copy of WHY GIRLS LOVE SAILORS on VVL as I do are fortunate enough to have these marvellous little melodies playing in the background; if you don't, buy the CDs and play them while you're watching. It makes an already pleasurable experience that little bit more enjoyable.

WHY GIRLS LOVE SAILORS was a lost film for many years until it turned up in a French Film Archive in 1971.It took another 15 years for the film to be viewed again,but happily it is now readily available on DVD and Video,with the French subtitles translated into English.

So,do Stan and Ollie work as a team here? Not really,though they do share one scene towards the end as Stan(called Willie Brisling here)tricks Ollie(billed as the First Mate)into thinking he's a woman,though he's actually trying to rescue his girl who's been kidnapped by the Ship's captain(Malcolm Waite).Anita Garvin,who was not thought to have appeared in the film until it's rediscovery,steals the show as the Captain's irate wife.Interesting more historically than aesthetically,but still watchable.

"Why Girls Love Sailors" (1927) is a two-reeler with Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy eating the scenes, along with Anita Garvin, Viola Richard, and Malcolm Waite, all in a tizzy when captain Malcolm Waite brings his boat into port and goes to see former girl friend Viola Richard, but she's now engaged to Laurel. Oops, and Waite's a toughie - and he shows it! Now back on the boat with both in tow, Richard basically captive and Laurel in a position to be eaten by the sharks who run the boat, especially the captain and his first mate, Hardy, Laurel decides to show what a man he can be by dressing up as a woman and ensnaring all the men on the boat... Then... Things get in high gear and things begin to happen: Bing, bong, bunk, Although the boat's not sunk, The sailors are beaten And though not eaten, By Laurel are thwarted While the captain's sorted Out by his wife, A knife Named Garvin.

My print is the American print found in France in 1971, long thought lost forever. After I watched this print, I watched the French version which differs here and there. Some of the scenes are obviously other takes, plus Charles R. Althoff shows up for about 1 second in a shot in Laurel's abode on shore. The viewer can just see him before he's out of the scene, sitting in a chair at the bottom of the screen. I mention this because he's not in the American print at all! Plus - several others were in scenes originally that had been deleted before release, including Anna May Wong and Sôjin Kamiyama. Althoff's presence is never explained by the syntax of the film, nor would many care. The titles in French differ only marginally from the American ones.

This is on the Image Entertainment DVD release of several years ago.

Another film with a seafaring theme, although no boats leave the harbour. Stan and Ollie aren't a double act as such in this one: Ollie's a rather rough-and-ready looking first mate with a perpetual scowl, while Stan's engaged to a woman to whom the Captain of Ollie's boat takes a shine.. The captain kidnaps the woman, so Stan follows him aboard to claim her back.

This is an OK silent film which is lifted immeasurably by the presence of Laurel & Hardy, even if their double act isn't yet developed. After pretending to be a ghost, Stan disguises himself as a woman. He did that in quite a few of their films. As a woman he looks rather odd, all neck and thin legs, but the sailors aboard ship all seem enchanted by him/her. He lures them to a secluded part of the boat then, after knocking them out with a bottle, tricks Ollie into throwing them overboard. This isn't one of their best but, as always with Laurel & Hardy, it's worth a look.