Quote: Lazzard @ 13th December 2010, 4:29 PMThey were one of the few silent acts that flourished/improved when sound came along.
For me, that's when they really got going.
Definitely. Then there was a decline with the full-lengthers.
Laurel and Hardy - The Silent Films Page 2
Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 5th August 2021, 12:52 PMDefinitely. Then there was a decline with the full-lengthers.
Agreed, though I would say Way Out West was the exception to that rule.
Sons of the desert?
Quote: Stephen Goodlad @ 5th August 2021, 1:53 PMSons of the desert?
Some great bits, but a bit too much padding IMHO.
Yeah, Way Out West and Sons of the Desert come to mind, but the pacing is slower and Stan and Ollie are more traditional actors. I wrote an article about this for Chortle but I ain't clogging this thread up with links. Stan was never pleased with the MGM phase, and Atoll K is the closest they ever got to total f**k up. I love the pressure cooker feeling of the shorts, and the way the boys give every single word and gesture 100 percent. Impossible in a feature.
Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 5th August 2021, 4:23 PM........................ and Atoll K is the closest they ever got to total f**k up. .
I bought a copy of that, just to see if it was as bad as people said it was...................it was.
Coincidentally, there was a short interview with Ollie on TPTV and he mentioned the film was just being released at the time.
Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 5th August 2021, 4:23 PMI love the pressure cooker feeling of the shorts, and the way the boys give every single word and gesture 100 percent. Impossible in a feature.
True.
A feature demands some sort of plot & story structure to get it through the hour or so.
The Boys have to say certain things, be in certain places , do certain things - just to keep the plot moving forward.
The two-reelers didn't have to bother with that - just set up the premise and watch them f**k it up.
In Helpmates the premise is set up within the first 80 seconds
F**king Hell, TWO people agree with me. I'm worried.
Lazzard is right. Helpmates and Music Box are two perfect examples of how Stan and Hardon were so amazing they didn't need plot - what little plot there was was just a pretext for them to lay on the gags. Yeah, f**k it https://www.chortle.co.uk/correspondents/2008/05/12/6770/movie_madness
I also bought Atoll K on DVD, more out of curiosity and completism than anything else. It's the same brain cell that had me track down Salinger's 'Hapworth' or spend money on the Clash's 'Cut The Crap'. I even bought Ringo's Christmas album. I even listened to it. More than once... To be fair, Atoll K has a few amusing moments in the first twenry mnutes, and if they'd given the script to just another comedy dup, it probably wouldn't be so hated. But after Stan and Ollie's heyday... Stan's appearance is harrowing in particular, and it's hard to laugh at someone who looks like a cross between Buster Hardon and a zombie. To add incest to injury, the Italian copy is battered, with parts missing, parts clumsily overdubbed later, parts forgotten about so subtitled... Not a happy moment.
Liberty (1929)
I'd never seen this before (on TPTV) and found the first half hilarious in their various attempts to change the trousers they had incorrectly put on (each other's) in a getaway car that had picked them up from a jail break.
After that it lost its way and the scenario of them clambering around on the girders of a half constructed sky-scraper lost its charm as it went on for too long. Edgy stuff though, until I realised, or thought, it was done against back projection; BUT.....................
"In an attempt to assure Stan Laurel that the safety platforms erected around the girder set were safe, Oliver Hardy leapt down from the wooden girders onto one. Unfortunately, they weren't safe. Hardy crashed right through the safety platform, fortunately falling only 20 feet into a safety net erected as a backup."
Bloody hell!!
Saw it when I was really young and it scared me. What a wuss I was.
Quote: Michael Monkhouse @ 6th August 2021, 6:06 PMHelpmates and Music Box are two perfect examples of how Stan and Hardon were so amazing they didn't need plot - what little plot there was was just a pretext for them to lay on the gags.
The saw mill and boat repair one are good examples too. Far more suited to their style than full-lengthers with romantic interludes, clichéd gangster plots and bleedin' music numbers.
There seems to be a lot of sound films talked about on this SILENT film thread. ?
Anyway, watched Double Whoopee again on TPTV where they go to work at a posh hotel just before some foreign royalty turn up to book in.
VERY FUNNY
Another great silent on TPTV - "Do Detectives Think?"
Seen before of course, but has some really funny scenes in it, especially when they have to walk past a graveyard at night. Also had their (usual) nemesis James Finlayson in it as a judge who has an escaped murderer after him, who was going to cut his throat because it was him that sent him down, and L&H were sent to guard him.
Comedy Legends
Late follow-up, and I know it isn't silent, but I watched the full Atoll K last weekend, and yes, it's dire. I'd originally seen an edit that cut some of the tedious scenes, in particular the romance and song sequence, and it was the better for it. Ultimately it's no worse than a lot of comedies the Yanks churn out, but a sad way to end their career.
I always think of Laurel and Hardy as three phases (well not always. Sometimes I think about other things): the silents, which are good but hard to watch these days; the talkie short heyday; the decline with the features. According to McCabe's bio, Stan gave up with MGM cos they weren't allowed the same freedom and personality. They were becoming just another acting duo, with none of the character and charm of their best work.
The two-reelers ( ie the talkie shorts) were the quintessential L&H.
The films had moments, as did the silents - but nothing gained the heady heights of those two-reelers.