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Our Relations

1936, Movie, NR, 65 mins

Our Relations: Review

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Perhaps the best Laurel and Hardy feature, OUR RELATIONS marked Stan Laurel's first credit as a producer, and he does an excellent job in this elaborate picture that owes a great deal to Shakespeare's "Comedy Of Errors." Stan and Ollie, sailors on shore leave, have a valuable diamond ring to deliver. Knowing that in the past they've spent all their money while on liberty, they give their cash to Sidney Toler, their captain, telling him to hold it in safekeeping and not to return it until after their ship has sailed. The town they are visiting is the same place where their twin brothers now live in domestic harmony with their henpecking wives, Daphne Pollard and Betty Healy. Stan and Ollie meet two girls, Iris Adrian and Lona Andre, in a local waterfront dive, while nearby, their twins are quaffing beer with their mates in another tavern. Need we say that the duos are soon mixed? The diamond ring turns up missing, and when Stan and Ollie can't locate the jewel, gangsters Ralf Harolde and Noel Madison trap the pair in cement blocks and leave them on a pier where they will soon fall into the water. Naturally, it all comes together in the end with the right husbands re-matched with the correct wives and the twins reunited after a long separation. Several funny scenes include Laurel and Hardy attempting to convince Toler to give them back their money; a set-piece in a hotel room where they have been placed without clothing; and their difficulty (as the married men) to make beer-hall owner Alan Hale, Sr., understand that they had not been there earlier with Adrian and Andre. Amidst all the fun, there is real danger to the boys when they come up against the villains. This was the first and only time they worked with director Harry Lachman, who was not known for his comedic skills. (His most famous feature was DANTE'S INFERNO, 1935; he also did a couple of CHARLIE CHAN films.) He seems to just turn on Rudolphe Mate's camera and let the boys have their way with the humor. A standout comedy role was played by Arthur Housman as a drunk, and Stanley Sandford, one of the wharf rats, was appearing in his final film of the 23 he made with Laurel and Hardy. In one of her first roles, Iris Adrian was developing the character she would play for the next several decades, the brash blonde with a heart of gold. Despite the excellence of this film, other Laurel and Hardy movies are better remembered. leave a comment
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A Sketch of Our Relations with China during Three and a Half Centuries, 1517-1869
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