Sons of the Desert

John Chard 5/16/2024 3:22:10PM 8.4

Honolulu Baby! As members of the mason mens club The Sons Of The Desert, Stan & Ollie are desperate to go away to one of the clubs conventions in Chicago. This idea is given the no no from the boys' wives {Mae Busch & Dorothy Christy}, so Ollie fakes ill health and the boys wangle a supposed sea voyage to aid his recovery. Of course they head to Chicago for their boys own fun, unbeknown to them that the ship they had told their wives they were travelling on has sunk at sea! I think this stands the test of time as one of the best Laurel & Hardy pictures because it's one of the most professional that they made. Laurel wasn't wholly satisfied with a couple of preceding features that they did, he felt it was becoming slapstick for slapstick's sake, so in came a new writing team to work with him to give us a tighter character driven laugh fest. The films main triumph is the integration and impact of the wives, they add greatly to the comedy with sparky dialogue and visual madness. So many great moments that I don't wish to point any single one out, you just need to see it and enjoy. The songs are fun, the narrative is as tidy as they would do, and the underlying honesty is the best policy message is one we all should heed. 9/10