Allegri gemelli

While Stan and Oliver sit at home eating dinner they get a letter from Oliver's mother with a picture of them with their twin brothers. Deciding it best to keep their brothers a secret from their other halves, they burn the picture. Unbeknownst to them though, these very twins have just arrived in town on a boat. Albert and Bert are not the smartest though and, before hitting the town, they allow Chief Engineer Finn to take their money to "invest" it. This means that they have no real cash when they go ashore to deliver a valuable ring for the captain. However when they meet two young ladies with expensive tastes they find themselves in a bit of a pickle.

The old "twin brothers/mistaken identity" plot is hardly the stuff of narrative gold, so I was a bit concerned that the plot would be terrible with this film. However this is actually very precisely structured for a Laurel and Hardy film and, although the plot is hardly convincing, it is very neat and tidy and moves along well. Even if the plot had been poor though, it is the laughs that matter and this film consistently delivers amusing moments even if it doesn't have much in the way of standout scenes. I was tickled all the way through it rather than roaring with laughter but this gentle humour was still enough for me.

Laurel and Hardy are both good but they weren't totally themselves. Laurel enjoyed his usual character but Hardy was given fewer withering looks which is a shame as he does them so well. Finalyson has a bigger role than normal but really I felt him more effective in short film roles that relied on his physical work rather than his delivery. Hale is enjoyable as the waiter, while Housmann is a good drunk.

Overall a solid and enjoyable Laurel & Hardy film that is a pretty tight production by their standards. Not the funniest vehicle you will find for them but certainly more than enough to please their fans.

This and its companion were the only projects the boys ever said they didn't like. And it has fallen to the bottom of the listings, in part because of limited availability.

But I like it because I am particularly attuned to self-referential films. Explicit self reference (outside of shows about shows) was already becoming a fashionable idea in Hollywood. In this case, we have a plot taken from Shakespeare and characters (as always) inspired by Longfellow.

So a running joke, repeated 6 or seven times, has (at key points) one of them saying "Shakespeare" and the other responding "Longfellow." Also, there's a developing joke from Lewis Carroll about what goes up a chimney? Developing jokes depend on the thing being said differently each time. (The play is on flew/flue.)

I consider this their second best because there's more effort than just the stock physical comedy.

Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

This film has an unusually complex plot for a Laurel and Hardy film. It is reminiscent of A Comedy Of Errors. In addition to playing Stanley and Oliver, the pair also play their long lost brothers Alf and Bert. The comedy fizzes along nicely although the film overall is lacking in classic moments. The main problem is that the characters of the two pairs of brother are not sufficiently differentiated so the viewer is often as confused as the characters in the film between Stanley and Oliver and Alf and Bert. The new print is generally excellent, although there are a few lapses of continuity.

Stan and Ollie also play their twin brothers Alfie and Bert in Our Relations which is their own particular spin on Shakespeare's A Comedy Of Errors.

Laurel and Hardy are both a pair of henpecked husbands in perpetual trouble with their wives and also a pair of sailors who just find trouble wherever they are. The sailors are on leave and get a job from their captain Sidney Toler to pick up a ring. They also have their usual run-in with perpetual nemesis James Finlayson who is intent on fleecing them out of their pay on shore leave and good thing he's as dumb as they are.

Our Relations is more a comedy of the usual mistaken identity situations with twins than it is a series of comedy bits that usually characterize a Laurel and Hardy short. One exception to this is a bit with Stan and Ollie getting into a crowded phone booth with movie inebriate Arthur Housman. No need for description, especially with the diet challenged Ollie as one of the people in that phone booth.

Alan Hale is also in this doing a very nice bit of slow burn comedy as the owner of a waterfront dive who runs into both sets of Stans and Ollies driving him a bit crazy. Of course no one is driven crazier than the wives of civilian Stan and Ollie, Daphne Pollard and Betty Healy. You know how these two are with the women in their lives from The Sons of The Desert. That goes double for Iris Adrian and Lorna Andre the two bimbos the sailors pick up at Alan Hale's joint.

Ironically the Comedy Of Errors would make it to Broadway two years later as Rodgers&Hart did a musical adaption of it as The Boys From Syracuse. Our Relations doesn't have the great Rodgers&Hart songs, but it sure doesn't lack for comedy with Stan and Ollie.

This has got to be one of the better 'long' Laurel & Hardy pictures. Reason why this movie is better than most of the other Laurel & Hardy comedies is that this movie has a very well written story, that at times gets a bit confusing but remains solid, enjoyable and funny all at the same time throughout its entire running time.

It isn't really a comedy with many slapstick moments or other silly events. It's more a movie that relies on its story, that might not be 'hilarious' but it remains consistently funny all the time. It makes "Our Relations" one of the more consistent Laurel & Hardy movies to watch and because of that it also becomes one of the most enjoyable ones.

Yes, it really is the slick tight story that is filled with some good comical moments that made this movie such a good and pleasant one to watch. Especially toward the ending the movie becomes really good, although also a bit confusing at the same time. It's very hard to tell who is Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy and who is Alf Laurel and Bert Hardy (the twin brothers of the two boys, who are of course being played by Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel as well.) and who is being chased by who and why. It makes the movie a bit too hard to follow in the end but the good comical moments and situations compensate this more than enough.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy really show their acting skills in this movie. They have more lines and interacting with other characters than usual. It's good to see that James Finlayson also shows up again in a fairly big role. Other fine roles are being portrayed by; Sidney Toler, Arthur Housman and Alan Hale.

OK so the movie might not be 'hilarious' by Laurel & Hardy standards but the story is extremely well written and has some well timed and executed comical moments in it, which will surely make you laugh.

9/10

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