In the early era of the Talkies, Hollywood still didn't know how to properly dub a film into various languages. Considering that Laurel and Hardy were adored worldwide in the silent era, it's no wonder Hal Roach Studios decided to make many of its early Laurel and Hardy shorts in multiple versions for viewing in French, Spanish, Italian and German markets. This meant that the team made the various versions simultaneously and spoke their lines phonetically. This wasn't as difficult as it sounds, as the Laurel and Hardy films they made this way were big on action and had minimal dialog. And, for most of the supporting actors, they hired actors who spoke the language--though in this one you also see familiar Roach actors James Finlayson and Edgar Kennedy doing their lines the same way Stan and Ollie did.
Unfortunately, in the case of LADRONES, they chose to remake one of the weakest of the team's shorts (NIGHT OWLS). In its English language version, I gave it a paltry score of 6 (very low for Stan and Ollie) because the film featured too few laughs and was way too slow-paced. Unfortunately, this was only worse in LADRONES because the film was ten minutes longer due to the usual length of shorts in Hispanic markets. So the film drags even more and features no more laughs.
The plot involves a recent spree of home burglaries. The mayor and captain are making it hard on the cops because they demand instant action. So, the sergeant (Kennedy) decides to stage a robbery with Stan and Ollie and become the hero when he catches them trying to rob the captain's home. The problem is that it takes FOREVER for the boys to break in and when they finally do, it's way too late. The timing is terrible and only a deaf person wouldn't have been woken due to the boy's repeated mistakes. Because of this, the film just isn't funny and seems very, very forced. Even the ending, which looked like it was going to be funny (with a gag involving a tree) ended poorly as there was no logical reason to end the film the way they did.
A major disappointment regardless of the language. However, even if you don't know Spanish or are like me and only have a passable knowledge, you can still enjoy it--especially if you've already seen NIGHT OWLS.
