The Worst Film Ever

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

a film so unique, intoxicating and bizarre that it not only demands another viewing, but is also forgivable as a satirical comedy where the jokes eventually take the back seat.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

This is another take on the plot of a couple of men having long lost twin brothers. Stan and Ollie have Bert and Al who they know are bad news. Well, those two are working on a ship and are on shore leave as our heroes take their wives out for dinner. This is a series of mistaken identity things where the good guys appear to be crooked and vice versa. Even the wives are confronted by a couple of sailors on the make. Meanwhile, Stan and Ollie are seen to be jewel thieves. Jimmy Finlayson is superb as the long suffering ship's captain. This, of course, is a take on the Shakespeare play, "A Comedy of Errors." There is great fun and some of the encounters are wonderful. One of the best things is the boys got to be "bad" once in a while. One of their better efforts.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are the most famous comedy duo in history, and deservedly so, so I am happy to see any of their films. Stan and Ollie don't realise their twin brother, Alfie (Laurel) and Bert (Hardy) are in town on shore leave, carrying a valuable pearl ring entrusted to them by their ship's captain. So begins a case of multiple mistaken identity, with Ollie and Stan's wives Daphne (Daphne Pollard) and Betty 'Bubbles' (Betty Healy), some girls Alfie and Bert met in the bar, Alice (Iris Adrian) and Lily (Lona Andre), ship chief engineer Finn (James Finlayson), and of course, eventually, the Captain, SS Periwinkle (Sidney Toler). It all comes to a head when Stan and Ollie wind up with their feet in cement, dumped over the harbour by hoodlums who want the ring they don't have, luckily Alfie and Bert come along to rescue them, and they can all conclude the mistaken identity problems. Filled with good slapstick and all classic comedy you want from a black and white film, at just over an hour, it is an enjoyable film. "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" was number 60 on 100 Years, 100 Quotes, and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Worth watching!

OUR RELATIONS Aspect ratio: 1.37:1Sound format: Mono(Black and white)During an eventful day out, Stan and Ollie become confused with their long-lost twin brothers, with far-reaching consequences.The first of two films co-produced by Hal Roach and Stan Laurel (the other was WAY OUT WEST), this entertaining farce has 'class' written all over it. Beautifully photographed by acclaimed cinematographer Rudolph Maté (later the director of WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE, amongst many others) and written by a couple of newcomers to the L&H universe (Felix Adler and Richard Connell) from the story 'The Money Box' by W.W. Jacobs, the film's elaborate plot line revolves around a series of comic coincidences involving the boys' uncomprehending wives (Betty Healey and the diminutive Daphne Pollard), a couple of gold-diggers (Iris Adrian and Lona Andre), a belligerent sea captain (Sidney Toler) and an incredulous restaurateur (Alan Hale). Though uncredited on the print itself, Laurel appears to have bolstered the screenplay with a number of 'typical' L&H routines - the movie opens on a shot of the boys and their wives passing teacups in an endless circle around the dinner table, for example - but these items are shoehorned into an extremely busy scenario which ends in a frantic dockside encounter with a couple of smart-looking gangsters (the equally smart-looking Ralf Harolde and Noel Madison). While there's laughs to be had from the convoluted plot developments and farcical situations, the movie lacks some of the charm and intimacy of L&H's shorter entries. Also starring Arthur Housman (a fabulous comic drunk in many similar movies) and L&H regular James Finlayson. Directed by Harry Lachman (DANTE'S INFERNO).

Is this the most violent Laurel and Hardy film ever made? Surprisingly, while Stan and Ollie's twin brothers – Bert and Alf – are described as "bad lads", it's the originals that are the most malicious, in this sadistic – yet very funny all the same – Laurel and Hardy showcase. Stan gets to headbutt a barman and set fire to another man's chest hair, while Ollie, for his part, sticks a lightbulb in a man's mouth (James Finlayson, a regular stooge for the boys in 35 movies) then punches him in the face so he swallows the broken glass. Their supposedly rogue twins, meanwhile, merely try to save money and treat some ladies to a meal. In order to distinguish between the twins (other than the level of violence they display), musical cues are used – a sea shanty for the sailors Bert and Alf, and the Laurel and Hardy theme for Stan and Ollie.There are lots of great sustained jokes in this movie, such as Ollie's broken spectacles, and the ultimate in a sustained gag is the mistaken identities between the sets of twins. This joke is taken so far towards its logical conclusion that the duos don't discover each other's existence until the final ninety seconds of film. This causes the plot to be far more imaginative, whereas a lesser film would have had greater reliance on the two pairs meeting. Arthur Housman is also good as the drunk, a role he seemed to make a career out of playing in many of his 159 film roles. It was a also a role he reprised with Laurel and Hardy, having played both "drunk" and "drunk sailor" in Scram!, The Live Ghost and The Fixer Uppers.The direction by Harry Lachman is well above average for the pair. Some scenes are shot through a fish tank or the back of a bed's headrail, and there are lots of aerial shots. The split screen technology, while used sparingly, was extremely proficient for the time. One thing of note is that a couple of the sequences, such as the crushed in the telephone box scene, are slightly similar to sight gags in the Marx Brothers film of the previous year, A Night At The Opera. It's not that obvious, and may just be coincidence, but I'd rather hoped that Laurel and Hardy had inspired the Marx Brothers, and not the other way around. But it's probably funnier here anyway, particularly poor old Stan with a boot on his neck. Finally, one of the concluding scenes – Stan crying hysterically as he rolls around on concrete boots – is a real winner.