The Devil's Brother (1933)

Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy star in this, the first of their comic operettas. They play wandering travelers forced in a life of crime after their loot is stolen. They end up assisting professional thief Dennis King though they're not above betraying him if it meant a better reward. I'll stop there and just mention one good scene of first Ollie singing before King takes over and just slays him with his warbling. I also loved seeing Stan getting drunk and then the laughing both he and Ollie do. Oh, and James Finlayson is also here and does his usual bumbling around the boys. Another supporting player named Henry Armetta is also a hoot here. Neither the songs nor Thelma Todd are bad either but, of course, it's the two men that are slim and heavyset that we've come do see. So on that note, The Devil's Brother gets a recommendation from me. Oh, and if you watch this on DVD, I also highly recommend the commentary track done by Hal Roach historians Leonard Maltin and Richard W. Bann.

Two of the funniest scenes in a movie. One where Laurel keeps drinking all the wine he's supposed to be putting in a vat. Soon he's sloshed and starts making a smack noise with his mouth, that gets funnier every time he does it. Soon after, they're both sitting at a table in a restaurant and Laurel can't stop laughing. Ollie tries to make him stop but he is quickly consumed by laughter as well and they are ramping up the laughter with every past moment they reminisce. You can't help yourself from laughing and I was laughing hard.Everything else about this movie is damn good too. The support acting is ahead of it's time and the music is well placed, novel and catchy. And the main female lead is very easy to look at. Check it out, won't we?

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy is one of the greatest comedic couple ever.In this movie they get to be the retainers of a singing bandit called Fra Diavolo(Dennis King).Of course, everything goes wrong, when Stanlio and Ollio are trying to do their job.The Devil's Brother is a great musical comedy.The movie contains some very funny moments, that just make you laugh.From the couple Laurel is the more childish one, who cries in these movies many times. Hardy is trying to be more adult, who is barely standing his friend.There isn't one problem, these two fellas can't manage with their own stupidness.

Of the three features L&H made based on operettas - The Devil's Brother (Auber's 'Fra Diavolo'), The Bohemian Girl (ibid, Balfe & Bunn), and Babes In Toyland (ibid, Sigmund Romberg) - I feel that this one shows off The Boys' comic abilities the best. James Finlayson, an L&H regular, is in his usual fine form, and Thelma Todd is marvelously coquettish. James C. Morton, who appeared so often as a policeman in so many of the L&H shorts, does a brilliant turn in the tiny part of the woodchopper. Best moment: Stan, ordered to hang Ollie, tightens the noose around his neck prior to hauling him up. "Stop that! You're choking me!" complains Ollie.