Gøg og Gokke på Vulkaner
I grew up
with Laurel & Hardy. Or “Gøg og Gokke” as they are called in Denmark. I
must have seen a ton of episodes, but only few that I actually remember in detail.
That is partly because it was long ago and I was a child, but also because the
stories are subordinate to the antics of the duo. Story apart the duo is iconic
to a degree where a silhouette of them is recognized in a split second by just
about everybody and they are a widely used by-name for clumsiness.
So, of
course I do not need to introduce them.
The scandal
here is that they only get one entry on the list, though the answer is obvious.
With the plot being of minor interest you just need to pick a representative
film and the label “Laurel & Hardy” is covered. That is the list’s common
procedure for comedians. Why W.C. Fields gets two movie and Laurel & Hardy
only one beats me. It ought to have been the other way round.
The one
item selected to represent Laurel and Hardy is “Sons of the Desert”. Personally
I would have picked “The Flying Deuces”, but “Sons of the Desert” is not a bad
pick. If you grew up in the wilderness somewhere and never heard of Laurel
& Hardy, “Sons of the Desert” is certainly a nice film to get acquainted
with them.
The Sons of
the Desert is a fraternity lodge composed of men wearing fez and having a jolly
good time. The Exhausted Leader of the lodge has made all the brothers swear an
oath that they will all attend the lodge convention in Chicago. That is all
good and well, except that Oliver’s (Oliver Hardy) wife, Mrs. Hardy (Mae Busch)
has planned a trip to the mountains. Despite all his cockiness he is NOT the
king of his castle so he and Stanley (Stan Laurel) embark on a complicated,
ridiculous and ultimately disastrous scheme to attend the convention without
the wives finding out.
Hardy is as
always the smart guy whose clever schemes always backfires and Laurel the
simpleton who gets away with ridiculous feats, though more by luck than clever
design. Certainly Hardy consistently
underestimates Laurel and overestimates his own cleverness. This leads to
countless comedic situations, both slapstick, situational and dialogue sorts. I
love their scheme with the veterinarian they hire to diagnose a bad case of
Canis Delirious (crazy dog, or dog madness), for which the only cure is an
ocean voyage to Honolulu. The scene where the wives, thinking they went down
with the boat from Hawaii, suddenly see the two airheads making fools of
themselves in a newsreel from the convention in Chicago, is simply priceless.
But those
are just two of the many many hilarious moments. They are literally back to
back as Laurel and Hardy cannot do a single thing without screwing it up.
“Sons of
the Desert” would not be half as fun without the wives. They are only identified
as Mrs. Hardy and Mrs. Laurel (Dorothy Christy), but in no way they are beneath
their husbands. In fact these are two tough women. Not mean like W.C. Fields
wives always are, but strong and determined and not willing to take any crap
from their men. This is of course what makes it so funny when Ollie and Stan
try and fail to run corners on them. Stan’s wife is an upright woman who goes duck
hunting while Stan is a crying wimp who breaks down as soon as she looks at
him. Yet they do get along because Stan accepts this.
Ollie on
the other hand keeps trying to outsmart his wife. Not by confronting her,
because he is mighty afraid of her, but by lying and sneaking around, which
pisses her of in a really bad and loud way.
I know I
should feel sorry for the two clowns, but they really have a talent for getting
themselves into trouble and watching them squirm is just hilariously funny.
Laurel
& Hardy was a favorite when I was a child and they have not lost their
power. This is comedy that never grows old and I was having a grand time re-watching
this one.
You're right that it seems like short shrift that we only get one entry from them, but at the same time, other double acts (Abbott and Costello) who get completely snubbed.
ReplyDeleteThe truth is, it's more about establishing their personae--their films are almost always funny, but they are sort of the same at a deeper level.
Yes, that was my conclusion as well, though you could say the same of W.C. Fields.
DeleteThat said their iconic status is in my mind up there with Keaton and Chaplin. Laurel & Hardy were for the thirties what Keaton and Chaplin were for the twenties. And while I cannot claim I ever saw an Abbott and Costello film, Laurel & Hardy are as famous and iconic today as they were back then.
Sons of the Desert was also the Laurel and Hardy entry picked for the AFI Top 100 Laughs list. Perhaps that is because, as Steve and you mentioned, it best introduces and represents their screen personae.
ReplyDeleteIndeed this one is a good introduction to what Laurel & Hardy were all about. A sort of quintessential Laurel & Hardy film.
DeleteHello Soren. You just have to see some Abbott & Costello movies and their TV show. I would recommend: Hold That Ghost, The Time Of Their Lives and Abbott& Costello Meet Frankenstein. Of course all their other full length features are great. And all their TV shows.
ReplyDeleteThat is definitely something I have to do. Abbott & Costello have always gone under the radar for me, likely because it was never a thing on Danish television, but I have read a lot about them and it is high on my list of things to watch.
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