6/10
Flying Elephants is an early Laurel & Hardy comedy in which their standard characteristics haven't been formed yet
2 August 2011
After years of reading about this early Laurel & Hardy short in Randy Skretvedt's "Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies", I finally managed to watch this Stone Age-set comedy on Hulu as linked from IMDb. Unlike their later classic work, here Stan and Ollie aren't together much and when they are, they're fighting over a girl they want to marry. As Skretvedt said in the book: "They appear to be as much of a team as Popeye and Bluto." Still they, and James Finlayson, provide much laughs whether hitting each other (or anybody else) on the heads or doing some kind of face dance. I also liked it when Stan landed on a cactus. So on that note, Flying Elephants is worth a look if you're an L & H completist. P.S. The stunning woman playing the girl-Viola Richard-was from Lafayette in my current home state of Louisiana. The title refers to Ollie's talking to another female about elephants flying to the South this time of year as we see just that after he mentions it. That animation was provided by Roy Seawright in his first of many accomplishments at the Hal Roach studio. And this was the last L & H short distributed by the Pathe Exchange as Roach could no longer tolerate the movie company's inept distribution methods. He'd eventually choose M-G-M for his future dealings.
5 out of 5 found this helpful. Was this review helpful? Sign in to vote.
Permalink

Recently Viewed