Editor’s Note: Who were some of the greatest comedic duos in cinema history? Today, Freeline Media’s film critic Mike Fried takes a look back at the comedies of that classic duo, Laurel and Hardy, Read on!
By Mike Fried
If you asked me who my favorite cinematic comedy team is, probably the best answer I can give you is “Depends on what I’m watching at the current moment.”
I mean, there are so many to choose from: there’s Abbott and Costello, the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges — and all of them are absolutely tremendous. But there’s a special thrill that I get when I watch a Laurel and Hardy movie. Just like all of the other comedy teams, the humor lies in the repetition of the bits done by the principles. Whether it’s Curly doing “woo woo, woo, woo woo“ or it’s Groucho Marx, looking into the camera or Harpo Marx making his angry face or whether Bud Abbott ignores when Lou Costello is in real peril, there’s a lot of fun to be had.
But for my money, Laurel and Hardy really did a head and shoulders job above the other comedy teams because of their burlesque sensibility, which often translated into a tremendous musical number.
Here’s some of my favorites, along with a tribute to the pair.
THE MOVIES:
THE MUSIC BOX
5/5
Two idiots have to move a piano to a particular address. Unfortunately for them, the house is up the absolutely longest flight of stairs that Los Angeles in the early 1930s had to offer. It’s like the stairs have a mind of their own. So does the piano.
And once they are at the top of the stairs, the fun doesn’t stop.
Of course, the two idiots are played by none other than Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy and the movie is an absolute miracle.
The only Laurel & Hardy winner of an Oscar, collecting an Academy Award for Best Short Subject, this movie will have you laughing from start to finish.
Slapstick galore, wonderful sound effects that accentuate the comedy and Stan and Ollie just trying to stay ahead of the game.
Also starring Hal Roach regular Billy Gilbert (you’ll recognize him) as the homeowner, this one is a real treat.
WATCH IT! Their Best! IF YOU DON’T LAUGH AT THIS THERE IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOU!
WAY OUT WEST
4/5
Laurel and Hardy are on the go once again out in the old west. They need to locate a woman named Mary, the heir to a goldmine. Unfortunately they need to deal with Mary’s guardians in Brushwood Gulch who are less than sincere in their attempts to protect Mary.
In a one hour movie filled with loads of comedic bits, nothing stands out as much as Stan & Ollie’s extended soft shoe dance routine to J. Leubrie Hill’s “At the Ball, That’s All,” sung by The Avalon Boys (one of whom was none other than legendary character actor Chill Wills, best known as Uncle Bawley from Giant). It is an iconic moment that has been played over and over because, well, it’s so iconic — and it shows how in sync Stan & Ollie were. The boys do a wonderful rendition of Trail of the Lonesome Pine that is just wonderful.
James Finlayson, who was often a comic foil for the duo, is on hand as the villain, Mary’s guardian who substitutes the tavern singer to impersonate Mary. He is so perfect and was never better than working with Laurel and Hardy. His slow burn is almost as good as Edgar Kennedy’s.
Watching Stan trying to take a necklace off of Ollie is priceless but that’s only the beginning of the fun. As they realize the mistake that they have made, the engagement in an attempt to retrieve the deed to the gold mine and do so with hilarious consequences.
It may not be their top comedy but it’s pretty darn close.
MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS/ BABES IN TOYLAND
4.5/5
Along with King Kong, Mighty Joe Young and Son of Kong, one of my favorite Thanksgiving traditions growing up was watching Laurel and Hardy’s classic kid’s fable March of the Wooden Soldiers. As I grew older, however, so did the prints of the film, getting scratchier with each passing year. Finally I was able to watch the Blu-Ray of the re-mastered version of Victor Herbert’s Babes In Toyland (the film’s real title), and I had thoughts.
Anyone who has never seen this film does not know what they are missing out on, so here goes with the 25 cent plot summary. Many of our favorite Mother Goose characters (including the old MG herself) live in Toyland. Laurel and Hardy play Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee, two oafs who live as boarders of the old lady who lived in the shoe – who, we find out, is the mother of Little Bo Peep. It seems that young Ms. Peep (who, has indeed, lost her sheep) is the object of affection of the rich, evil and old Silas Barnaby who is willing to tear up the mortgage on the old lady’s shoe if Ms. Peep will take his hand in marriage. (How much is the mortgage on a shoe?) Ms. Peep, though, is enthralled with Tom Tom, the Piper’s son; however, she agrees to marry Barnaby to free her mother of the debt. Barnaby is double crossed and sends Tom to Bogeyland, having framed him for Pig-Napping. The evil Barnaby summons the Bogeymen to attack Toyland and, of course, it is Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee to the rescue.
It has been at least five years since I have watched this movie and I am pleased to report that it still tickles the funny bone as effectively as any Laurel and Hardy movie. The lines are just great (“so far so good,” “It wasn’t so far. We just came across the street” or “It doesn’t taste like pig,” “What does it taste like?,” “It tastes like pork.”) The sight gags are brilliant (just watch for the mouse that is really a monkey in a mouse suit), Ollie always gets the short end of the stick and Stan gets to cry in his patented way. The attack of the Bogeymen does not scare the way it used to (I am in my late 60s now and I am never really been scared watching a movie) but it does evoke the memories of really being scared when I was just a little kid and I think young kids will be scared as well.
The black and white version of the movie is not without its imperfections; but it was definitely worth the purchase. Many of the annoying scratches are gone and there are none of the ragged edits that seem to dominate many of the old print public domain movies that are rushed onto DVD and find themselves in the $1.99 bin. The picture is faded in parts but that is most likely owed to the deterioration of the print that the restorers had to work with, the movie being 86 years old. Nevertheless, the high definition transfer is worth the money. There are segments of the movie that are as crisp as I have ever seen. That’s not to say that the movie is perfect – far from it, but it is eminently more watchable. The blu-ray version of King Kong really shows what can be done with film restoration of a movie from the same era. But this movie still delivers the goods.
The Blu Ray also includes a colorized version of the movie which is still not worth it at all. Despite the alleged improvements to the process, this movie appeared much more faded than its black and white counterpart. I watched the colorized version of the movie for purposes of comparison but the film was cheapened by the process. All of the colors seemed artificial and painted and despite customer reviews alleging preference for the colorized version of the movie, I could only stare in amazement as skin tones and costume colors appeared to change in shade, making me want to go to the tint button on my big screen TV. In short, the colorized version was an affront to the filmmakers.
The sound was certainly better without the pops and hisses that accompanied the prior versions and there was little difference in the sound between the black and white version and the colorized version.
EXTRAS: There are a bunch of uninteresting extras (for example an 8 minute cartoon version of Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer – why???) but what was really interesting was a Department of Agriculture short starring Stan and Ollie not speaking but acting in reaction to the Pete Smith describing what products are made from wood (I’m not making that up).
BLOCK-HEADS
4/5
During World War One, private Stan Laurel is told to guard his trench, while the rest of the platoon fights. The war ends and he is forgotten by the rest of the troops and he spends the next 20 years guarding his post as he was ordered. His friend Ollie helps him reacclimate to society.
The threadbare plot is an excuse for some absolutely delightful slapstick gags. Let’s see, it starts off with a gag when Ollie thinks Stan only has one leg and goes on from there. “Why didn’t you tell me you had two legs?” Ollie asks after carrying Stan a distance. “You didn’t ask.” Oliver getting into a crowded elevator which because of his weight plummets to the first floor is another highlight.
The boys make a hash out of the apartment house in which Oliver lives and from that the humor derives. The scenes on the stairs are absolutely hysterical. And Stan Laurel has absolutely absurdist Harpo Marx moments with a glass of water and a pipe.
Billy Gilbert once again co-stars as their foil as he did in 1932’s The Music Box.
But you can tell, especially when the boys meet up again after 20 years how much these two guys loved each other.
The boys are up to their usual hijinks, contending with bad neighbors, impatient wives and instilling in both of them the disdain that the boys are apt to cause. By the time this movie was made, the boys were firmly cemented as a legendary comedy team. And it shows. The final scene is sheer brilliance.
Directed by James Blystone and produced comic film genius Hal Roach, this is one of their best feature films.
WATCH IT !
THE TRIBUTE
STAN & OLLIE (2018)
4.5/5
Biopic about the greatest screen comedy team ever, Laurel and Hardy. It’s 1953 and the boys are down on their luck not having made a good movie in quite some time. They are persuaded to a dance hall revue tour of smaller theaters in England which rejuvenates their career. They are good friends who care about each other very much, but there’s been some consternation as well, especially over a film that Ollie did without Stan.
This was one of my favorite films of 2018. It probably got some facts incorrect, but not so much as it would matter.
Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly are Laurel and Hardy. I cannot begin to state how much they have embodied their roles and have brought the legendary comedy duo to life. They were rightfully nominated for acting honors, Coogan for the BAFTA award for best actor and Reilly for the Golden Globe in the same category. I cannot stress how much they bring Laurel & Hardy to life. And the humor is not only in their routines but in their special relationship as well. They do bits in life.
They bring to life many of the duo’s best routines and even go so far as to perfectly copy their famous dance from Way Out West.
There’s a scene where Ollie and Stan have a fight during a cocktail party and Ollie accuses Stan that “You loved Laurel and Hardy but you never loved me.” But the point of the matter is that the two of them loved each other deeply. This is a love story with all the highs and lows of any couple in any love story. When Ollie’s health takes a turn, Stanley is bereft.
“It was fun while it lasted, Stan. I will miss this when I’m gone.”
“So will you”
WATCH IT!
4.5/5
Michael Fried has no formal training in movies, except having watched over 26,000+ movies — if not more — in his 60-plus years on this planet, starting with Goldfinger as his first cinema experience. He knows what he likes and he knows what he doesn’t like, and it’s quite often different from the conventional wisdom. He knows that the best franchise is Godzilla and he loves action movies and comedies. He has not been nominated for any awards except some boring insurance awards which has no applicability to movies (with the possible exceptions of Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity and John Cassavettes’ Big Trouble). He is part of a team that won the 1980 SUNY Albany Trivia content by correctly guessing the question, “Who played the president of Klopstockia in Million Dollar Legs?” So he has that going for him, which is nice.
Contact Mike at moviemike3@yahoo.com and mike.fried@yahoo.com.
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