Sons of the Desert (1933)

Normally, the domestic oriented Laurel and Hardy films don't interest me as much as the ones where they are alone together. I find that the harpy women are violent and unlikable, and it takes away from the silliness of what made them such a great team. But in the case of this one, it's fun to see harpy wife Mae Busch get it even better than she gives, literally ending up in hot water, literally!If this doesn't almost seem like a plot line from an episode of "The Honeymooners", then I don't know what else to compare it too. Hardy and Busch are a parallel to Ralph and Alice Kramden while Laurel and the rifle toting Dorothy Christy are identical to the Norton's. The plot concerns their efforts to go to a convention while Busch insists that they are going to the mountains. Oliver fakes a breakdown, and Laurel hires a fake doctor to prescribe a trip to Honolulu. An encounter with his own brother in law (Charley Chase) nearly exposes them, but it is the sinking of their boat coming back from Honolulu that is the real threat. At just over an hour, this is their third feature, and perhaps their best. Chase is only on screen for a few minutes, which was fine for me because I can barely tolerate his shorts. A plus is the musical novelty, "Honolulu Baby", complete with Busby Berkkey over the head shots. Busch and Christy believably go from being nagging wives to loving caretakers (and back again), all with great hilarity. This deservedly became the name of Laurel and Hardy's fan club, creating another Hollywood legend and one of the most beloved comedy duos of all time.

As good or as faulty as one's memory might be after fifty or sixty years, I'd say that this Laurel and Hardy flick is the one that managed to permeate my brain the best with a whole host of memorable catch phrases like the one in my summary line. Others include that business about two peas in a pod-duh (emphasis on the 'd'), and Ollie's ubiquitous exclamation about 'another fine mess you've gotten me into'. Oh yeah, and can't forget the one about 'every man should be king in his own castle'. It's no wonder Stan and Ollie have remained so popular over the years, I just love these guys.For me, the puzzler in this story is why the boys would go with the Hawaiian cruise gambit to put one over on their wives. Seems to me the girls should have jumped at the chance to go along and then we'd have had an entirely different picture. But since they went with it, I got a kick out of hearing that 'Honolulu Baby' song from nightclub crooner Ty Purvis. I'm pretty sure that song was parodied in one of those old Warner Brothers cartoons so I'll have to stay attentive to catch it some time. And this wouldn't have been the first time I noticed how well Stan fractures the English language with statements like "I think he's suffering from a nervous shakedown". Seems to me Leo Gorcey must have been well inspired by the malapropisms his predecessor came up with. But to my mind, the biggest baffler with the boys in this or any other picture, is how they managed to have such good looking wives. Mae Busch as Lottie Hardy and Dorothy Christy as Betty Laurel - go figure! One last thing, with Charley Chase as the obnoxious convention attendee, he kept using this word 'darb' so much that I had to look it up. Turns out it's an out of use expression that back in the day meant that a person or thing was excellent. So coming full circle on that, I'd have to recommend this film for all of you who haven't seen it yet, because after all is said and done, it's quite darb.

No one can deny that Laurel and Hardy were THE comic duo. "Sons of the Desert" is one of many movies showing this. This one has them as members of a Shriners-like society attending a convention against the wishes of their strict wives. While it was obvious that Stan and Ollie's wives were going to somehow discover what the two men were up to, I still couldn't have predicted what would result! You gotta wonder how much fun they must have had filming it! I once read about how, because Laurel's the idiot and Hardy's the straight man, their embarrassing situations always lead to greater shame for Hardy since it's more of a downfall for him. That's the case here all the way! Watching the movie, I get the feeling that their mishaps may have inspired the antics of Gilligan and the Skipper.All in all, a really funny movie.

Although this is considered Laurel and Hardy's greatest feature, the comic promise of their clandestine getaway isn't fulfilled until the boys return from Chicago and have to convince their wives that they're survivors of a shipwreck. Stan and Ollie were clearly at their expressive peaks, with Laurel's sudden crying fits, malapropism, and head-scratching proving hilarious once their ruse is up, and Hardy's trademark, dainty finger wave and pedantic diction coming across as an effortless personality quirk. My favorite moment is Stanley's sudden burst of articulate speech in the attic—Oliver's wide-eyed surprise and put-out gaze into the camera is priceless. In fact, the last 20–25 minutes are best-ever material, but it isn't as compelling for its entire length as Way Out West or their best shorts, such as Tit for Tat and The Music Box.