MovieChat Forums > Comedy > Laurel + Hardy - Best of?

Laurel + Hardy - Best of?

posted 12 years ago by grambax
4 replies | jump to latest

Hi,

I have a friend who, much to my incredulity, is unfamiliar with "The Boys"; in fact he seems to find them much the same as The 3 Stooges. As a lifelong L&H fan, I disagree entirely.

However I'm the sort of person who "rations" their favourites rather than indulging them. So I'm probably less familiar with much of The Boys' work than many casual viewers.

So my question is simple - I have most of L&H's work available on DVD. I want to show my friend why they were so special and unique.

I'm looking for suggestions as to their best, and especially most distinctive and representative work (not always quite the same thing. Some choices are obvious - Sons of the Desert for example; but I want to give a decent cross-section of their work.

Any thoughts and advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[–] Ana_Banana 11 years ago

Big Business is their masterpiece, obviously.
But please take my warning: don't expect to always be able to convince anyone about what you liked. Perhaps they didn't have the taste for a particular style (e. g. I used to try to 'explain' in vain to someone why the Marx Bros' or Woody Allen's best films were any good...).

We can't be lost; we don't know where we're going.
All that matters is that we're going.

[–] binapiraeus 11 years ago

There are so many wonderful films they did together - especially their early talkies - that I remember from back when I was a kid and watched them on TV (nowadays they don't show them anymore...) - like when they joined the Foreign Legion, when they got mixed up in a murder case, when Stan inherited a fortune... But the one I've always loved most is "Pardon Us", with the title with its double meaning: when they were thrown in jail...

Let's be realists, let's demand the impossible.

[–] molarmaven59 11 years ago

grambax:

I have many books on L&H. Sorry they are in storage.

I would select any of "the boys" work before the 1940s, even their silent shorts were brilliant.

Any film where they are with Hal Roach.

[–] Iridescent_Phantom 11 years ago

The Music Box
Them That Hills/Tit For Tat (short and sequel)
Way Out West
Sons of the Desert

Avoid the films they did after 1940, although if your friend seems to be taking to them, you might throw in A Chump At Oxford, just for Laurel's Jekyll/Hyde performance as himself and a college professor. Look for Peter Cushing as a college student.

What Is Essential Is Invisible