The Best of Laurel and Hardy (In Color) starring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy
The Best of Laurel and Hardy (In Color) – A colorized collection of sketches from Laurel and Hardy’s short films. It’s a short collection, running just 84 minutes. I have to say, I’ve seen the various skits before (see the list below), but it’s a treat to see them in color. The colorization’s not bad, for what it’s worth. You can watch it on Amazon Prime, but I personally watched it on Tubi TV.
Colorized scenes from:
- Night Owls (coerced by patrolman Edgar Kennedy to break into the house of his chief, James Finlayson. So Kennedy can “catch” them and look good).
- Below Zero (street musicians involved in a snowball fight)
- One Good Turn (auctioning their car to “help” a little old woman)
- The Live Ghost (sea captain Walter Long hired them to Shanghai him a crew – paying a dollar a head)
- Pardon Us (making beer during prohibition – and Stanley sells some to a cop! Ending them up in prison. And Stan sees the prison dentist to get his tooth pulled. But Ollie getting his pulled by mistake! They actually foil a prison riot. Never give Stan a machine gun!)
- Laughing Gravy (“if the landlord finds out we’ve got a dog here, he’ll throw us out …”. Leading to total chaos)
- Be Big! (Stan and Ollie want to sneak out to a wild party at their lodge. But they’ve got each other’s boots on …. Leading to slapstick gold)
- County Hospital (Oliver’s peacefully recuperating in a hospital, until Stanley visits him. And nearly destroys the room. And pushes poor Billy Gilbert out a window! Causing poor Oliver to get thrown out!)
- Our Wife (Oliver’s eloping with Dulcie — if Stan’s “help” doesn’t ruin everything!)
- Their First Mistake (Oliver’s wife is understandably upset over spending all of his time with Stan)
- Our Relations (Stan and Ollie’s twin brothers, sailors, get swindled by James Finlayson. Then they have to deliver a package for their captain at a beer garden. When Stan and Ollie are also going! Mistaken identity confusion abounds. The longest segment of the compilation.)
Cast of characters
- Stan Laurel
- Oliver Hardy
- Mae Busch
- James Finlayson
- Edgar Kennedy
- Billy Gilbert
- Stanley Tolerson
- Walter Long
- Charlie Hall
- Tiny Sandford
- Arthur Housman