"Fra Diavolo" was written by Eugene Scribe (1791-1861) who dominated the French theater for 40 years with his rather ephemeral plays. On this basis, Daniel-Francois Auber wrote a libretto, called (my translation) "Fra Diavolo or the Inn at Terracina" (premiere 1830 in Paris). The roles of Stanlio and Ollio are originally those of the two monks "Giacomo" and "Beppo". In the film version by Hal Roach, Stanlio and Ollio are poor laborers who have now enough money together to enjoy the rest of their lives. Just in the moment when Ollio thinks that the money is not safe enough with Stanlio and asks him to hand it over to him, the two are robbed by bandits. Stanley then comes to the genial idea that, starting again from the bottom, they could start from the top since this is the "logic of conversation". "Fra Diavolo" (1933), which contains practically no stereotypes known from the other movies of "The Boys" and therefore motivates all slap-sticks and comical parts solely by causality, is a true highlight and at least from the standpoint of quality (perhaps a bit less from that of entertainment) most probably the best Laurel and Hardy movie. It was banned in Europe until 1957 - the reasons are unclear to me although I spent quite some time on research. (They are the first European broadcast of "Fra Diavolo", in Germany is interestingly the year in which Mr. Hardy died.) Moreover, different versions of "Fra Diavolo" have been broadcast under different titles - very similar as in "Babes in Toyland" (which movie also shared the same fate as "Fra Diavolo" and is also one of the rare high-quality movies with Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy). As far as I see, there is no DVD version available in the U.S. My own copy - which goes under the strange title "Bandits in Panic" - comes from Holland and is part of a rich collection of Laurel and Hardy movies most of them are even hard to get on VHS in the US. I wonder why nobody seems to be capable of editing classic films as the classic writers'work are edited since centuries: chronologically with commentaries, annotations and bibliographies. Why does Criterion not take over the whole work of Laurel and Hardy and edits it, lets say, in 20-30 discs containing also interviews, radio documentations, old stills, etc. which may give to the present audience an idea about the public appeal of these movie in their times.
Review of The Devil's Brother
