Making Abbott and Costello in the foreign legion look like Cary Grant and Gary Cooper in "Gunga Din" and "Beau Geste", Laurel and Hardy get caught up in more sand than what fits in an hour glass in this lively spoof of a popular genre that still makes occasional appearances on big screens today. Oliver's recovering from a break up with none other than Jean Harlow (seen in a picture) so he goes off to the foreign legion where their antics threaten to turn on them, but like any comic who ends up in the military, they end up as heroes in a surprising and clever way. Adding another two reels onto this mini- feature/extended short, they get twice the laughs as they tried out their popularity to see if they could make it into full length films. The results? A definite yes, lasting for more than a decade and surviving a real world war. I couldn't see this any shorter, but possibly extended. Tii much meat minus the Grissel makes this prime rib.

Beau Hunks (1931) *** (out of 4) Four reel comedy has Hardy's girlfriend break up with him so he drags Laurel to join the Foreign Legion. The look of the film is quite good but overall this is more charming than funny, although the ending has some good laughs. Jean Harlow is the girlfriend in all the pictures.Brats (1930) ** (out of 4) Laurel and Hardy play themselves as well of their kids in this attempt at humor. I really didn't laugh too much at this because the effects of them being kids just didn't work. The kids were a lot more annoying than anything else.

If as another reviewer says that Beau Hunks was Hal Roach's personal favorite of the many Laurel&Hardy shorts he produced, it certainly is a very good choice. Roach must have liked it because he expanded it later on in the decade to a full length feature film, Flying Deuces.Poor Ollie is pining over his lost love because his Jeanie Weanie is getting married so to forget his troubles he joins the Foreign Legion, dragging along poor Stanley behind him. Of course as it turns out Jeanie Weanie is Jean Harlow who's sent these loving autographed pictures all over the world as we see when they settle into the barracks of the Foreign Legion.The film is a satire of Beau Geste and of The Desert Song which only two years earlier had come to the screen. The enemy are the Riffraffs and a deadly bunch they are. Of course they haven't come up against Laurel and Hardy.Two best bits in the film are the boys getting lost in a sand storm on the desert and then actually arriving at the fort ahead of the rest of the troop. Second is when Laurel the dunce is asked by Hardy why he's not carrying any equipment for the march and he innocently replies that he packed his stuff with Ollie's. This is Stanley's innocence at its finest.One thing that is eerie about Beau Hunks is that the marriage Jean Harlow was to have the following year was to Paul Bern and we all know what a tragedy that turned out to be. She might have been better off marrying Ollie or one of the other Legionaires.Beau Hunks is a choice sample of Stan and Ollie's comedy which is absolutely eternal.

Can you even call this a comedy short? The movie is nearly 40 minutes long and it actually features a plot line. Anyway, short or long feature, this movie is a well written and directing one which makes this movie a very enjoyable and comical great movie.After once again being letdown in love, Oliver Hardy signs up with the Foreign Legion to forget his problems. Of course he drags Stan Laurel along with him. Once joined, they get into the middle of a battle between the Foreign Legion troops and a tribe of Arabs. This plot line doesn't sound unfamiliar for the Laurel & Hardy fans, since this theme is used in a dozen of other Laurel & Hardy pictures. Still "Beau Hunks" is a original movie on its own, mainly because its a well written and directed one.The movie has some really great and comical dialog. It doesn't rely so much on its slapstick humor but that doesn't mean this movie is any less fun than other Laurel & Hardy comedy shorts.Also its action and scale is quite nice which helps to make this movie one of the most impressively good looking shorts.The acting is great. Of course Laurel & Hardy are great as ever and so is the impressing Charles Middleton, who still is best known for playing Emperor Ming in the Flash Gordon movies from the '30's. Also fun was to see Jean Harlow as the woman in the picture, who is a important returning element in the movie. It's nice to see the boys paying homage to the then already famous Jean Harlow, with who they worked together in the silent comedy short "Double Whoopee". Director James W. Horne also plays a small part in the movie. The only Laurel & Hardy movie in which he appears as an actor. The movie is further more filled with a whole bunch of Laurel & Hardy regulars in bit parts such as Baldwin Cooke, Charlie Hall, Jack Hill, among others.A very well made that also is fun to watch as well. Highly recommendable!8/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/