Stan Laurel
The first religious film about Laurel and Hardy.
Among the pieces featured in Fragments are the final reel of John Ford's The Village Blacksmith (1922) and a glimpse at Emil Jannings in The Way of All Flesh (1927), the only Oscar®-winning performance in a lost film. Fragments also features clips from such lost films as Cleopatra (1917), starring Theda Bara; The Miracle Man (1919), with Lon Chaney; He Comes Up Smiling (1918), starring Douglas Fairbanks; an early lost sound film, Gold Diggers of Broadway (1929), filmed in early Technicolor, and the only color footage of silent star Clara Bow, Red Hair (1928). The program is rounded out with interviews of film preservationists involved in identifying and restoring these films. Also featured is a new interview with Diana Serra Cary, best known as "Baby Peggy", one of the major American child stars of the silent era, who discusses one of the featured fragments, Darling of New York (1923).
The lives of Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957), on the screen and behind the curtain. The joy and the sadness, the success and the failure. The story of one of the best comic duos of all time: a lesson on how to make people laugh.
Experience Stan and Ollie in their funniest scenes: whether they build a house as construction workers or try to impress two young ladies as sailors. Watch as Stan fights a superior opponent in the boxing ring and as Ollie is taking an involuntary bath and see where a steadfast friendship between two men can get you...
Some of MGM'S musical stars review the studios history of musicals. From The Hollywood Revue of 1929 to Brigadoon, from the first musical talkies to Gene Kelly in Singin' in the Rain.
Modern comedians share their thoughts about Laurel and Hardy. Also includes archival footage of contemporary comedians. Hosted by Dom DeLuise.
Biography of the legendary filmmaker directed by his son.
Glenn Ford narrates this hilarious look back at the greatest comedians in movie history.
Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire present more golden moments from the MGM film library, this time including comedy and drama as well as classic musical numbers.
Period music, film clips and newsreel footage combined into a visual exploration of the American entertainment industry during the Great Depression.
Narrated by Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise, this documentary about "Laurel and Hardy", one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema. It features interviews with Jerry Lewis, Dick Van Dyke, Babe London, Marcel Marceau, Lucille Hardy (Ollie's wife), Bob Monkhouse, Hal Roach, Marvin T Hatley, Jack McCabe and many more.
Robert Youngson once again compiles scenes from the golden age of comedy's silent film era. Laurel and Hardy are shown battling a gum machine, and Hardy is a debaucherous Romeo whose amorous plans are thwarted by Rex, the Wonder Horse. Charley Chase is hampered by hiccups and a female professor, and he fleeces a drunken Oliver Hardy with a mannequin in a nightclub. The third part finds bachelor Buster Keaton desperately trying to get married by 7:00 PM in order to collect a $7-million-dollar inheritance. Keaton is pursued by money-hungry prospects in one of the best chase scenes ever filmed. Narration is provided by Jay Jackson.
Film historian Robert Youngson presents a feature-length anthology of rarely seen silent films by comedy legends Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy. Along with clips from many of the shorts that made the duo stars, it includes clips from a 1918 comedy starring Laurel on his own as well as scenes from three shorts Hardy made in 1917 and '18 with his original comedy partner, Billy West. To put the duo's work in context, the film briefly features other comedians who worked with producer Hal Roach.
A program featuring original comedy skits written as a tribute to Stan Laurel.
A compilation of primarly Laurel and Hardy shorts---From Soup to Nuts, Wrong Again, Putting the Pants on Philip, The Finishing Touch, Sugar Daddies and short clips from others---plus Max Davidson's Call of the Cuckoo and Dumb Daddies, with some cross-over Charley Chase footage, which, along with Robert Youngson's previous "The Golden Age of Comedy", "When Comedy Was King", "Days of Thrills and Laughter", led to a renewed interest in and a revival of television showings of Laurel and Hardy shorts. The cast was billed in order of their appearance: Oliver Hardy, Stan Laurel, Vivien Oakland (with a Vivian typo), Glen Tyron, Edna Murphy, Anita Garvin, Tiny Sanford, Jimmy Finlayson, Charlie Chase, Viola Richard, Max Davidson, Del Henderson, Josephine Crowell, Anders Randolf (as Anders Randolph), Edgar Kennedy, Dorothy Coburn, Lillian Elliott and "Spec" O'Donnell.
Film clips highlight the funniest scenes and brightest comic stars in MGM's history.
A collection of behind the scenes and home movies from the golden age of Hollywood.
An appreciative, uncritical look at silent film comedies and thrillers from early in the century through the 1920s.
A compilation featuring comedic stars of the silent era including Fatty Arbuckle, Charles Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Charley Chase, and Laurel and Hardy.
A compilation featuring comedic stars of the silent era including Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, W.C. Fields and Harold Lloyd.
Laurel is a Scottish reporter suspected of being a spy by police detective James Finlayson. Although trailed by the latter, Stan, who is reporting on the movie world, manages to be hired by Mack Sennett. He makes his debut in Nevada, in the middle of gold diggers. After managing to clear his name he becomes, with Oliver Hardy, a big comedy star.
Bumbling detective Stan Laurel disguises himself as a famous matador in order to hide from the vengeful Richard K. Muldoon, who spent time in prison on Stan's bogus testimony.
During World War II Stan and Ollie find themselves as improbable bodyguards to an eccentric inventor and his strategically important new bomb.
Two bumbling servants are hired by a dizzy society matron to cook and serve a meal to visiting royalty.
Stan and Ollie are stopped by narrator Pete Smith for the purpose of showing the audience how much wood and wood by-products the average person carries. Stan and Ollie then begin to open their pockets and briefcase, pulling out a variety of things that derive from the tree. The narrator talks all the way through this short film (about 7 minutes long). The idea is that scientists can put everything that comes from the tree into one test tube.
Two bumblers, failures as businessmen and air raid wardens, stumble across a nest of Nazi saboteurs bent on blowing up the local magnesium plant.
The Dancing Masters is a 1943 Laurel and Hardy feature film. The plot involves the team running a ballet school, and getting involved with an inventor. A young Robert Mitchum has an uncredited cameo role as a fraudulent insurance salesman.
The two-man Laurel and Hardy Zoot Suit Band find themselves fronting a scam for "gasolene pills" in wartime oil-short America. They are however soon on the side of the angels helping recover $10,000 for an attractive young lady whose family have themselves been swindled.
Stan and Ollie get involved with con men, crooks, a genial magician, and two interchangeable coffins with disastrous but funny results.
Laurel and Hardy join the army. They are hardly soldiers, but they believe their employer, (Dick Nelson) will need them now he's drafted.
The boys get jobs as a butler and maid (Stan in drag) for a dinner party. When that ends in disaster, they resort to sweeping streets and accidentally capture a bank robber. The thankful bank president sends them to Oxford to get an education. Predictable results ensue.
Stan and Ollie work in a horn factory. Ollie starts having violent fits every time he hears a horn. His doctor prescribes a restful sea voyage. Mayhem ensues.
Ollie is in love with a woman. When he discovers that she is already married, he tries to kill himself. Of course, the suicide is avoided and the boys join the Foreign Legion to get away from their troubles. Finally, they are arrested for trying to desert the Legion and to escape the firing squad by stealing a plane.
Stan and Ollie are mousetrap salesmen hoping for better business in Switzerland, with Stan's theory that because there is more cheese in Switzerland, there should be more mice.
It's 1938, but Stan doesn't know the war is over; he's still patrolling the trenches in France, and shoots down a French aviator. Oliver sees his old chum's picture in the paper and goes to visit Stan who has now been returned to the States and invites him back to his home.
Peterson has a plan to obtain all the ranches in the valley. He gives Carson a phony Spanish land grant and has him pose as the Mexican owner. When Fred and Fuzzy have their cattle stolen by Peterson's men, they quickly become involved in the scheme.
Melody arrives looking for the killer of his uncle and at the same time Dumont arrives looking for the murderer of her father. They both suspect Skelton and Dumont finds incriminating evidence in his office. But when Melody finds the murder weapon in Skelton's office he is arrested by Shelton's stooge Sheriff.
Stan and Ollie try to deliver the deed to a valuable gold mine to the daughter of a dead prospector. Unfortunately, the daughter's evil guardian is determined to have the gold mine for himself and his saloon-singer wife.
A Cinderella story of a young country girl who comes to Hollywood and achieves movie stardom with the help of a publicity man.
The rarest of Laurel and Hardy films this side of The Rogue Song (1930), That's That is a gag reel made up of alternate takes and bloopers said to have been compiled by film editor Bert Jordan as a present for Stan Laurel's birthday in 1937.
Stan and Ollie travel with a band of 18th-century Gypsies holding a nobleman's daughter.
Charlie tells his co-workers about his event-filled vacation to California, including his run in with two vagabond hitchhikers (Laurel and Hardy in cameo appearances).
Two sailors get caught in a mountain of mix-ups when they meet their long-lost twins. Laurel and Hardy play themselves and their twins.
Promo for MGM's upcoming 1935-36 releases hosted by Laurel & Hardy and Jimmy Finlayson. Brief clips are shown from Rose Marie, Anna Karenina, Broadway Melody, China Seas, The Great Ziegfield and others. Don't miss a few seconds from the 1935 version (now lost) of Tarzan Escapes showing Jane with a great ape; there were no great apes in the 1936 release.
Stan and Ollie stow away to Scotland expecting to inherit the MacLaurel estate. When things don't quite turn out that way, they unwittingly enlist in the Scottish army and are posted to India.
Oliver's in trouble with his wife after missing a payment on their furniture, having given the money to Stanley, who used it instead to pay Mrs. Hardy for his room and board. At Stan's suggestion Ollie then withdraws the couple's savings from the bank to pay for the furniture and inadvertently pays virtually the whole amount at an auction for a grandfather clock which is soon crushed under a passing truck. Mrs Hardy then unintentionally causes serious injuries to Ollie requiring him to be rushed to hospital for a blood transfusion. The doctor conscripts Stan to be the unwilling blood donor. Problems occur with the transfusion and when Stan and Ollie leave the hospital they appear to have morphed into each other.
Stan and Ollie are greeting card salesmen who agree to help a woman put a spark in her loveless marriage by making her husband jealous.
Stan & Ollie have set up their own electrical repair store. Unfortunately, for them, the grocery store opposite is run by the man and wife they encountered in Them Thar Hills (1935). Stan & Ollie go and visit, to offer the hand of friendship, but the grocer becomes convinced that Ollie is trying to seduce his wife.
Ollie Dee and Stanley Dum try to borrow money from their employer, the toymaker, to pay off the mortgage on Mother Peep's shoe and keep it and Little Bo Peep from the clutches of the evil Barnaby. When that fails, they trick Barnaby into marrying Stanley Dum instead of Bo Peep. Enraged, Barnaby unleashes the bogeymen from their caverns to destroy Toyland.
Jimmy Durante is jungle star Schnarzan the Conqueror, but the public is tiring of his fake lions. So when Baron Munchausen comes to town with real man-eating lions, Durante throws a big party with so that he might use the lions in his next movie. His film rival sneaks into the party to buy the lions before Durante.
Barbershop owners Stan and Ollie answer an ad in the newspaper from a wealthy widow looking for a husband. Ollie only mails in his response and is invited to the widow's mansion. Stan discovers his unmailed letter and insists on tagging along. At the mansion, the widow's creepy butler informs them that the woman is crazy. She was once jilted by an Oliver and now her hobby is marrying Olivers and then slitting their throats. Now the boys must figure out how to escape.
Fish market workers Stan and Ollie are persuaded by a sea captain to shanghai a crew for him at the local bar for a dollar a head. Successful at first, the boys end up getting themselves shanghaied, and the crew vow revenge.
In a packed courtroom, Butch Long vows revenge on 'squealers' Laurel and Hardy whose evidence has helped to send him to prison. Frightened, the boys plan to leave town and advertise for someone to share expenses with them. The woman who answers the ad is actually Butch's girlfriend. Meanwhile Butch escapes and hides in a trunk in his girlfriend's apartment where he gets locked inside. Not realizing who it is, Stan and Ollie finally manage to get the trunk open and then Butch exacts his revenge.
The story involves Stan and Ollie traveling to the mountains for Ollie to recover from gout. They park their caravan near a cabin of moonshiners; the moonshiners dump their brew in a well, which Stan and Ollie proceed to drink from, thinking that it is healthy mountain water.
Ollie and Stan deceive their wives into thinking they are taking a medically necessary cruise when they are really going to a lodge convention.
Spanky's parents take their reluctant boy to get his portrait taken by a prissy photographer.
In this short film, Laurel and Hardy wage battle with inanimate objects, their co-workers, and the laws of physics during a routine work day at a sawmill.
On the morning of his wedding to oil baron Peter Cucumber's daughter, Ollie receives a jigsaw puzzle from Stan as a wedding gift. The boys soon become absorbed in the puzzle. A taxi driver, butler, policeman and messenger boy join in as well.
The Devil’s Brother or Bogus Bandits or Fra Diavolo is a 1933 comedy film starring Laurel and Hardy. It is based on Daniel Auber’s operetta Fra Diavolo about the Italian bandit Fra Diavolo.
Stan and Ollie are chimney sweeps working at the home of mad scientist Professor Noodle.
Ollie is in the hospital with a broken leg. When Stan comes to visit him, total chaos ensues.
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy visit Scotland in the Summer of 1932
Actors Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy visit Tynemouth in North East England.
The Laurel & Hardy Moving Co. have a challenging job on their hands (and backs): hauling a player piano up a monumental flight of stairs to Prof. von Schwarzenhoffen's house. Their task is complicated by a sassy nursemaid and, unbeknownst to them, the impatient Prof. von Schwarzenhoffen himself. But the biggest problem is the force of gravity, which repeatedly pulls the piano back down to the bottom of the stairs.
Stan and Ollie check into a seedy hotel and help a young girl escape the clutches of the landlord (Long). They are forced to flee the hotel with no money and Ollie arranges for Stan to fight at a local boxing hall for $50. Stan's opponent turns out to be Musgy who uses a loaded glove. During the fight the glove is swapped and Stan triumphs only to find that Ollie has bet their fee that he would lose.
The story begins in 1917 with Stan and Ollie being drafted into the U.S. Army to fight in World War I. While in the Army, the pair befriend a man named Eddie Smith, who is killed by the enemy during a battle. After the war is over, Stan and Ollie venture to New York City, where they begin a quest to reunite Eddie's little daughter with her rightful family. The task proves both monumental and problematic as the boys discover just how many people in New York have the last name Smith.
Mrs Hardy is annoyed that her husband Oliver seems to spend more time with his friend Stanley than with her. After a furious argument, Mrs Hardy says that she is through if Ollie goes out with Stan again. Stan suggests that Ollie adopts a baby, which he does. Unfortunately, his wife has left their apartment on returning, and a process server delivers a paper informing Ollie that she is suing him for divorce, naming Stan as correspondent. The boys are now left to look after the infant on their own.
Although they are successful fishmongers, Stan convinces Ollie that they should become fishermen too, but making a boat seaworthy isn't an easy task.
Ollie's house is a mess after a wild party from the previous night. Ollie receives a telegram from his wife (who is on vacation in Chicago), which tells him that she is returning home in the afternoon. Fearing his wife's wrath he calls Stan over to help him clean up. Things go downhill and they make more mess not less.
Stan and Ollie join the French Foreign Legion after Ollie's sweetheart rejects him. The title Beau Hunks is both a reference to Beau Geste and a pun on the mild ethnic slur Bohunk (a portmanteau of "Bohemian" and "Hungarian.").
Stan and Ollie try to hide their pet dog Laughing Gravy from their exasperated, mean tempered landlord, who has a "No Pets" policy.
Ollie is running for mayor when an old flame (Mae Busch) tries to blackmail him with a old photo.
Ollie is running for mayor and an old flame threatens to blackmail him. Only a Spanish language version was shot simultaneously with the English language version. Laurel and Hardy learned their parts phonetically, so they are actually speaking Spanish. The leading ladies) in the English version were usually replaced with native Spanish-speaking actresses--in this film they are Rina Liguoro, Linda Loredo and Carmen Granada. - En Espanol: Hardy, un exitoso hombre de negocios, recien cassado, se postula para alcalde. Inesperadamente lo visita una ex-novia quien amenaza con chantajearlo. Laurel, su amigo y socio se ofrece a ayudarlo para mantener a la jujer lejos de Hardy. De todas modos ella irrumpe en el hogar de Hardy y es aqui cuando comienzan las complicaciones en esta clasica comedia de Laurel y Hardy. - This is the Spanish language only version.
Stan & Ollie (speaking phonetic French!), having been kicked out by their wives on a wintry night, attempt to smuggle their little dog into an apartment house where dogs are not allowed.
Oliver is making plans to marry his sweetheart Dulcy with Stan as his best man, but the plans are thwarted when Dulcy's father sees a picture of Ollie and forbids the marriage. The couple plan to elope, and run away to a Justice of the Peace. After typical Laurel and Hardy blundering, they manage to sneak the girl away from her father's house.
The Hardys wish to have a quiet evening in their apartment, but are interrupted when the Laurels pay a visit. Stan and Ollie go out for ice cream, and manage to prevent a shrewish woman from committing suicide on the way back home. The woman is ungrateful and makes threats against the them unless they look after her. They spend a chaotic evening trying to keep her hidden from their wives.
Down and out Stan and Ollie beg for food from a friendly old lady who provides them with sandwiches. While eating, they overhear the lady's landlord tell her he's going to throw her out because she can't pay her mortgage. They don't realize that the old lady is really rehearsing for a play. Stan and Ollie decide to help the old lady by selling their car. During the auction a drunk puts a wallet in Stan's pocket. Ollie accuses Stan of robbing the old lady, but when the truth is revealed Stan takes revenge on Ollie.
Two young women, Zasu and Thelma, complain that all of their dates take them to Coney Island. The next day a car goes by and they are splashed with mud. The driver stops and offers to buy them some new clothes. They accept the offer and later agree to go on a date -- to Coney Island again. Laurel and Hardy make cameo appearances.
Famous actress Norma Shearer's jewels are stolen… (Star-packed promotional short film intended to raise funds for the National Variety Artists Tuberculosis Sanatorium.)
Stan and Ollie are on their way to Atlantic City with their wives, when Ollie gets a phone call from a lodge buddy telling him that a stag party is taking place that night in their honor. Ollie pretends to be sick and sends the wives on ahead, promising that he and Stan will meet them in the morning. The pair dress in their lodge gear, but their wives return having missed their train. With no obvious escape route, Stan and Ollie take to a bed in fear and in response to Stan's plea of "What'll I do?", Ollie replies "Be big!".
This Spanish language film was produced simultaneously with the filming of the two English language Laurel and Hardy shorts Be Big! and Laughing Gravy. The two shorts were edited together into one continuous film. Laurel and Hardy read their lines from cue cards on which Spanish was written phonetically. At the time of early talkies, dubbing was not yet perfected.
Two homeless vagabonds hide out in a vacant mansion and pose as the residents when prospective lessees arrive and try to rent it.
Stan lies to his wife about going to a nightclub with Ollie but Mrs. Laurel overhears the plot and outsmarts them both.
The boys think their days of fishing to feed themselves have come to an end, when Stan's rich uncle Ebenezer dies leaving a large estate. But they soon learn that Ebenezer was murdered and all the relatives, including Stan, are suspects. This is the first film where Oliver says "Here's Another 'Nice' Mess You've Gotten Me Into". The phrase is commonly misquoted as "Here's Another 'Fine' Mess You've Gotten Me Into" and has passed into everyday language usage.
Street musicians Stan and Ollie have no success earning money in the dead of winter in a bad neighborhood. Their instruments are destroyed in an argument with a woman, but their luck seems to turn when Stan finds a wallet. They are chased by a thief, but are protected by a police officer. They share a meal with the policeman, but discover the wallet belongs to him. When the policeman discovers this he tells the waiter who throws them out of the restaurant and throws Stan upside down in a barrel of water.
This film was simultaneously produced in English and Spanish language versions. The English language version was Below Zero. To film this Spanish language version, Laurel and Hardy read their lines from cue cards on which Spanish was printed phonetically. At the time of early talkies, dubbing was not yet perfected.
Policeman Edgar Kennedy is told by his chief he better stop a string of burglaries that have been happening on his watch or else he will get the sack. He persuades vagrants Stan and Ollie to rob the chief's house so he can regain his reputation by catching them. The policeman promises to later get the boys off. Things do not go as planned.
In czarist Russia, a princess falls for a dashing bandit leader, but their romance proves a stormy one.
Stable hands Stan and Ollie are tending a thoroughbred named "Blue Boy." But when they overhear two men talking about a $5000 reward for the return of the stolen "Blue Boy," they miss the part about it being the painting, not the horse. They take the horse to the owner's house to claim the reward. The owner instructs them to put "Blue Boy" on the piano and Ollie explains, "these millionaires are peculiar."
Oliver stands to inherit a large fortune from his rich Uncle Bernal, with the condition that he be happily married. But when Mrs. Hardy walks out just before Uncle Bernal is due for a visit, Stanley is pressed into duty (and into drag) to impersonate Oliver's loving spouse.
Two families embark on a pleasant Sunday picnic but manage to run into a variety of issues with their temperamental automobile. Each incident requires repeated exits and reboardings by Laurel, Hardy, their wives and grouchy, gout-ridden Uncle Edgar.
Stanley and Oliver are adopted by a runaway goat, whose noise and aroma in turn get the goat of their suspicious landlord.
Stan and Ollie wreak havoc at an upper class hotel in their jobs as footman (Hardy) and doorman (Laurel). They partially undress blonde bombshell Jean Harlow (in a brief appearance) and repeatedly escort a stuffy nobleman into an empty elevator shaft.
Stan and Ollie play door-to-door Christmas tree salesmen in California. They end up getting into an escalating feud with grumpy would-be customer James Finlayson, with his home and their car being destroyed in the melee.
Sailors Stan and Ollie offer to buy sodas for two women they meet in a park, even though they are short on cash. Luckily Stan wins the jackpot on a slot machine and the boys have enough money to rent a boat to cruise on a lake. They soon tangle with other boaters and everyone ends up in the water.
Notable for being Laurel and Hardy's first sound film (hence the title, drawn from the popular cliché "Unaccustomed as we are to public speaking ..."). The soundtrack was lost for fifty years until it was traced on disc in the late 1970s. This is the first film in which Hardy says to Laurel, "Why don't you do something to help me!" which immediately became a catch-phrase, repeated in numerous subsequent films. Also heard for the first time is Stan's distinctive, high-pitched whimper of distress. The plot of "Unaccustomed As We Are" was expanded into a full-length feature, Block-Heads, in 1938.
The story involves Stan and Ollie as two musicians attempting to travel by train to Pottsville (presumably Pennsylvania, a very popular vaudeville performance location). It was only their second sound film, but a silent version was also made for cinemas at the time that were not equipped to show talkies.
Stan and Ollie try to sleep in a room-for-rent. Ollie, suffering from a cold, coughs frequently, while Stan snores. Both of them have trouble falling asleep because of this. They try to solve their problems, but this results in total chaos.
Stan and Ollie arrive as new inmates at a prison after apparently taking part in a hold-up raid, a raid they tell a prison officer they were only watching. The usual mayhem ensues.
Mrs. Hardy throws Ollie and Stan out of the house. They try to impress two young ladies at a golf course and end up fighting with other golfers. This was the first Hal Roach film to bill Laurel and Hardy as a team.
Members of a municipal band, Stanley and Oliver seem to be always following someone else's lead, rather than that of the temperamental conductor.
Loony scientist (Carle) hires Laurel and Hardy to raid the cemetery to keep him supplied with dead bodies for his experiments.
Stan complains of a toothache and he and Ollie visit the dentist. Ollie gets his teeth pulled by mistake. Under the influence of laughing gas, they leave and cause much commotion on the road annoying a traffic cop (Edgar Kennedy). This is Kennedy's first appearance in a Laurel and Hardy film.
The boys sneak out for a night on the town, unaware that Stan's wife has switched her grocery coupons for Stan's secret stash of mad money. The boys run up a huge tab treating a couple of girls to dinner at a snazzy nightclub and much trouble ensues.
Stan & Ollie attempt to fool their wives by sneaking out to a poker game, but instead get involved with two flirty ladies, one of whom is the girlfriend of a jealous boxer.
Cavemen Stan and Ollie vie for the affections of a stone-age beauty. The title refers to three animated pachyderms provided by Walter Lantz that fly past in one scene.
Stan and Ollie are hired to build a house in just one day. When they are done, a bird lands on the house and it collapses. Naturally, the owner wants his money back.
Inexperienced waiters (Laurel & Hardy) are hired for a swank dinner party.
This western comedy is about rancher Finlayson's beautiful daughter, Martha Sleeper, who refuses to marry the bad guy and how Jimmy and dimwitted cowhand Stan bumble their way into a successful defense of her and the ranch.
Stanley and Oliver, two sailors on shore leave, rent a car and go on a drive with their dates, but soon get involved in a huge traffic jam with dozens of ill-tempered motorists. A minor collision sets off an escalating series of retaliations. This film is recognized as one of Laurel and Hardy's greatest.
Oliver inherits a fortune and hires Stan as his butler and proceeds to torment him. Stan finally rebels and goes on a rampage, destroying Oliver's fancy furnishings.
Stan is a sailor whose girl gets kidnapped by a rough sea captain. Stan dresses in drag and seduces the captain but the captain's wife catches him. Stan and his girl beat a hasty retreat as the captain's wife fires off a parting shot.
An escaped convict is out to kill the judge who sentenced him. Two inept detectives are hired to guard the judge.
Pompous J. Piedmont Mumblethunder (Hardy), greets his nephew from Scotland (Laurel,) who arrives in kilts. He is immediately taken to a tailor for a pair of proper pants.
Fight manager (Hardy) takes out an insurance policy on his puny pugilist (Laurel) and then proceeds to try to arrange for an accident so that he can collect. The film is most noted for the final sequence - a wonderfully-choreographed custard pie fight - that utilized an entire day's output of the Los Angeles Pie Company.
After a night of carousing, a rich oil tycoon awakes to find that he was married the night before. He calls in his lawyer (Laurel) to straighten things out.
This film was presumed lost for a long time, until the second reel of this movie showed up again in the '90's. So half of the movie can be seen. It's a fast paced slapstick comedy with also a good comical story about a man (Charley Chase) who is being prosecuted for shooting his wife (Edna Marion).
A short comedy by Leo McCarey about a jewish father who is worried about his daughter.
A con artist and a midget dressed as her infant son, are unmasked aboard a ship by a steward (Laurel.)
Fleeing a group of forest rangers, who are rounding up tramps to serve as firefighters, they take refuge in a mansion. The owner has gone on vacation and the servants are away, so Hardy pretends to be the owner and offers to rent the house to an English couple. Hardy gets Laurel to pose as the maid. Unfortunately, the owner returns and tells the would-be renters that he owns the house; Laurel and Hardy then flee again and are caught by the rangers and forced to fight wildfires.
Dimwitted Cuthbert Hope is enlisted in the army, and gets himself and his sergeant in constant trouble.
In this Our Gang film, James Finlayson plays the gang's schoolteacher who takes the kids to Europe after winning a local contest. He takes them on a tour of Naples, Pompeii, Rome, the Vatican, Venice, London, and finally Paris, where problems arise on top of the Eiffel Tower.
Papa Gimplewart (Max Davidson) chaperones his daughter and her "steady" during a beach adventure.
Neglected by her husband, our heroine decides to make him jealous by getting the handyman (Laurel) to play a literary genius at a party and flirt with her.
Titus Tillsbury is a successful businessman who is visited by a blackmailing old flame. He enlists a friend (Stan) to keep her away from his home and wife. This film was later remade almost scene for scene as the three-reel talkie Chickens Come Home (1931).
Agnes Ayres was apparently a star of feature film who is top billed in this one-off Hal Roach short. She does well as the woman at the centre of the story, but it's pretty plain that it's actually the comic mind and performing talents of Stan Laurel, who plays her butler, that make this two-reel short shine.
A cook for bridge constructors is told to collect food for dinner-Ritz style trout, Palmer house rabbit and a 15cm frosted cake. He sets off into the wide open spaces to collect the food, coming into contact with a mad hermit, who hates anybody seeing his daughter, before returning to cook dinner
A daughter's rich father wants to marry her off to a rich but older man. The daughter has other ideas however and sets out to find a nice young man she can fall in love with.
Short comedy which posits that in a hundred years men's styles will revert to Regency garb, and that there will be a complete gender role reversal, with husband Clyde Cook staying home alone while wife Katherine Grant goes tomcatting around town.
A divorced couple try to pretend they are still happily married in order to get $100,000 from the woman's divorce-disapproving aunt.
A young man visiting Hollywood on family business gets into trouble when he sees a bank robbery in progress, and thinks it is a movie scene.
A female secret agent has gotten ahold of a new type of explosive gas. She has to avoid the efforts of two men who are trying to steal it. They succeed in doing so, but the gas turns out to be not quite what they expected.
After being beaten to a story of scandal involving Countess Polasky, James W. Hornby assigns his son 24 hours to find an even more scandalous story about the countess. After spending the night in the wrong street looking for the wrong countess, he comes up with a plan: the butler will be seen in a comprimising situation with the countess, and then photographed. The countess, who is sick of reporters, has other ideas... Written by Paul L
The crotchety dean of Pinkham University blames the "bad behavior of the school's female students on a dress shop owned by Helene, and informs her he's shutting her shop down. Meanwhile, her boyfriend Napoleon has invented a plaster that restores youth. The dean accidentally sits on the plaster and reverts back to his younger days when he himself used to chase college girls. Complications ensue.
Finlayson plays an intrepid army cameraman on the battlefield in the world war, and Rowe plays his hapless assistant. Cranking away in no man's land, they take foolish chances and must dodge flying shells, falling down and losing their film repeatedly.
A very good as a faithful husband, whose wife is looking for proof that more than his eyes have been roving. She hires a private detective to provide it.
Nanette sends a letter to her family telling of her new husband, Hillory. When Hillory arrives to meet the family, he gets insulted by each member, including the dog, and loses his wig. After having dinner with the family, Nanette's former lover returns, and Hillory must confront him
Stationed in a Latin American country, sailor Stan is lonely and wants company. He tries to get his Chief to bring him along to a dinner the Chief has been invited to, but the Chief wants nothing to do with Stan.
Stan Laurel before Laurel and Hardy, in this "Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde"-inspired story, which was released 30 July 1925.
Moonlight and Noses (1925) is a comedy short directed by Stan Laurel & F. Richard Jones.
It's 3:00 AM at the Firewater Club, and Stanley has had more than enough to drink. When he tries to take over leading the orchestra, the manager - a former boxer - lets him know that he needs to restrain himself. But it's not long before Stanley causes another disruption anyway, and when he then tries to dance with the manager's wife, the manager's patience finally runs out.
Stan plays a kind hearted tramp whose love goes un-requited in this sweet short film from 1925.
Laurel plays Winchell McSweeney, whose fisherman parents forced him to leave home and make it on his own when they can no longer afford to keep supporting him. He takes a boat out of the village, but accidentally sets the ship on fire when he attempts to take a photograph of the passengers. The women end up on the island with McSweeney, and is constantly pursued by them, including one Amazon-size girl.
As a way to make peace between two feuding Scottish clans, one invites the other over for supper, but things don't turn out quite as expected.
Stan Laurel plays a Chinese laundryman and he displays some good physical slapstick reminiscent of his days with the Karno troupe in England.
After being discharged from the 372nd infantry, on account of a bean shortage, smithy seeks employment. He finds employment at a construction site, where he helps to build a house, and soon causes havoc amoungst other workers. The constuction company owner leaves for a week, and tells his secretary to send a letter to Mr. Smith telling him to complete the construction of the house while he (the owner) is away. The letter is accidently sent to Smithy who manages to complete the house. When the owner returns the house is complete, and Smithy is commended until the last support beam is removed...
On his way to collect inheritance in the small town on Hot Dog, Stan gets robbed by highwaymen, one of which is the other person who shall attend the reading of their late Uncle's will. The reading of the will states Stan will get everything, including 'The Last Chance Saloon', but in the case of Stan's death, the saloon will be split between Bad Mike and his friend. Stan nows flees town, but gets on Bad Mike's horse, which takes him to Bad Mike's house. Bad Mike and his gang arrive at the house, after robbing the saloon. They soon hear Stan, and an epic gun battle follows, with the town Sheriff not far behind.
It's in prison that the bulk of this film takes place. A minor thrill gag in which Stan Laurel moves out of danger several times just before being caught: in one case he keeps sitting in an electric chair that is being tested, and in another, a fellow con who is escaping swings a pickax against a wall.
This film is set in a small Irish town and mostly concerns James Finlayson's attempts to marry a young lady against her will. Nice guy, Stan Laurel, tries to help out but gets thrown in jail for his trouble. What happens next you'll just need to see for yourself.
A parody version of "Rupert of Hentzau" (a version of "The Prisoner of Zenda") with Stan Laurel in the lead.
Stan is a lazy employee at a lumber company. Much of the first portion of the film has to do with Stan trying to sneak into work late--past the violent and rather insane supervisor. Later, however, Stan walks into a plot to steal the company away and frame the owner for a crime he did not commit.
Pick and Shovel, also known as The Miner, is a 1923 silent comedy film starring Stan Laurel.
A feckless young man who wishes to switch from one streetcar to another is told to follow a pretty young lady-- so he follows her all over town.
During the Alaska gold rush, a miner hits the mother lode, but a corrupt sheriff jumps his claim, leading to a tremendous fight.
'Save the Ship' is a plotless silent short film which has the 33 year old Stan Laurel acting in a run of the mill production to pay his bills and as a token by Hal Roach.
Stan is in the company of ladies in this film. He is serving in the military with female officers, but there is also a demure lady who wins his affections.
In the trembling Russian village of Popoffski, a young woman (Katherine Grant) is wooed by a hopeful lover, the son of a humble pool shark (Stan) right under the very nose of her father. When the man proposes marriage to her the father is happy to let her go, seeing as he has nine other children to worry about. As the couple celebrate their love for one another they are approached by a military officer who threatens to take the woman away to use as a court dancer.
A prosecutor instructs the audience of a courtroom to observe the tearful and slightly hysterical wife (Helen Gilmore) who is sitting in the witness box, and claims she is this way due to her husband, who shows up very infrequently. For the defence (James Finlayson), he never did anything to be proud of - and was proud of it. He sits there smirking and sipping a glass of water before being momentarily distracted. He goes to take another sip of his drink but instead picks up a different glass containing something very different.
Laurel portrays a commercial traveller, hawking a patent medicine cried Professor I.O. Dine's Knox-All: that name is the funniest joke in this movie, which ain't sayin' much. I should point out that this movie dates from 1923, the shank of Prohibition. During Prohibition, quite a lot of Americans purchased patent medicine if it had (ahem!) 'medicinal' properties, so -- if Knox-All contains alcohol.
Stan is Phillip McCann, a gas station attendant who arrives at his job by chauffeur and donning a fur coat over his work clothes. After being dropped off, he puts his sign on the doorframe and wanders off to a nearby cafe where waitress Katherine Grant serves him an egg, medium rare, and a cup of tea, well done....
Stan plays a waiter at a crappy restaurant and frankly such fare was better done by Chaplin and others. However, in two cute scenes, the film shines. The first is a Limburger cheese bit that is low-brow but funny. The second is the final scene with dogs following Stan at the end.
After getting into a scuffle with his boss and some co-workers, an orange packer tries to help another co-worker, only to wind up in a conflict with him as well. Trying to elude his boss, he heads inside the packing house, and visits with the women who are packing fruit into cases. Then he heads to a storage area, and tries to use the machinery to escape his pursuers
Rhubarb Vaselino lives in a small village, when he and his friend, Sapo, enter a bullfighting contest, Sapo dies, but Rhubarb kills three bulls and becomes a local hero earning money. Two years later, he is living in Madrid as a national hero , when he becomes involved with Filet de Sol, and his lover finds out, he must fight the most deadliest in Spain, in the last bull fight of the season.
Stan is Jimmy Smith, a salesman who is trying hard to pitch his Napoleon book to an uninterested customer as they stand in front of some iron gates. When an elderly gentleman approaches the two men he uses sign language to communicate to the 'customer' and they leave together. This is when Stan sees the sign for the Deaf & Dumb Institute that his subject was standing in front of. An elderly lady then walks out of the gates and Stan uses sign language in an attempt to talk to her. Of course, she is not deaf or dumb and gives him some verbal abuse for assuming so.
Nuts in May, re-cut, with added footage and outtakes from _Pest, The (1922)_ , combined with newly shot sequences to bridge the scenes.
In their first screen appearance together, Stan plays a penniless dog lover and Oliver plays a crook who tries to rob him and his new paramour.
All I can figure is that Stan Laurel is picked up at the train depot and brought back by the husband to the family home where the wife is having a suffragette meeting. None too pleased they cause mayhem and then the neighbours are brought into it as Stan cleans up the backyard by throwing all the rubbish into their award winning garden.
Stan plays a janitor at a hotel dropping letters and trying to retrieve them with a vacuum, getting wet, helping a lady shoot her cheating husband and being chased by the police.
A nervy young man follows a pretty lady into a diner to flirt with her, but winds up getting stuck with the tab.
Bears and Bad Men is a 1918 silent comedy film directed by Larry Semon[1] and featuring Stan Laurel.
This film represents one of Larry Semon's pro-war films. He is a clumsy guy working in a restaurant and oddly, everyone who works in the place as well as many of the customers are Kaiser-loving spies. Why they would be headquartered in a restaurant in California, I have no idea! Regardless, their aim is to steal some plans from some old guy and his daughter. When Semon finds out, he comes to the rescue.
The story is of two convicts always trying to escape, until one day when they actually manage to. They meet up with a girl and become rivals for her charms.
The funniest moments from Laurel and Hardy's most hilarious films
A compilation of clips from various Laurel and Hardy films
