Cert U
Following the success of the film ‘Stan and Ollie’ starring Steve Coogan and John C Reilly, ABCD felt it was time to celebrate the great masters of slapstick comedy with an original Laurel and Hardy. When Stan’s grandfather dies in Scotland he leaves the ever hard up Laurel an inheritance, necessitating his return to his homeland. But with the customary twists to the plot, the pair having enlisted in the army, find themselves enroute to the Northwest Frontier of India to wreak their usual chaos.
Dir: James W Horne, USA, 80 mins, 1935
Programme Notes
Vintage comedy for Christmas, with the feature being a Laurel and Hardy venture in which our penniless and unlucky duo, after going to Scotland to claim a miserly inheritance from Stan’s uncle, mistakenly enlist in the Scottish Lancers – only to be sent on a dangerous mission to the Indian Northwest frontier.
At the time of its release, Bonnie Scotland was banned in Bohemia and Moravia, probably because the film showed men wearing what appeared to be skirts, while censors in Lithuania wanted a scene cut in which Stan sits on Ollie’s lap!
Acknowledgements: IMDb, derekwinnert.com
Stan and Ollie:The Roots of Comedy, Simon Louvish
“[…] lampoon of British Empire adventure epics, redeemed by […] performances, some good support turns, some appealing routines and some funny moments” Derek Winnert, derekwinnert.com
Comments
- Thank you for the Laurel & Hardy a perfect piece of fun and nonsense, mayhem and anarchy!
- A brilliant piece of nonsense
- Most enjoyable Laurel & Hardy. Good, old fashioned slapstick – a refreshing change
- A bit ‘meh’ and a bit of a silly Beau Geste spoof at the end of such a dopey yarn
- Maybe the Daleks were inspired by Laurel & Hardy’s bagpipes …
- The best feature of the feature was the result : soldiers 0, bees 1!
- Surprisingly, not very funny!
- They really weren’t funny were they?
- The short was good but I don’t regret never having seen a Laurel & Hardy before!