For me a comedy is a movie in which i have laughs after laughs after laughs and as i have already written, for one time, my country is better than America : over there, the only comedies i rated 10 are Saving Silverman, Looney Tunes, Pee-Wee, Fletch, Raising Arizona, Vacations, Groundhog Day, Miss Doubtfire, Goonies, Gremlins and Ghosbusters… So that makes just an handful and this memorable duo of Laurel & Hardy rejoices now this club ! At first, i feared it would be an old boring and dusty stuff like Charlot but the dynamic duo convinces me of their true genius for the genre in less than 5 minutes : they find crazy things in totally ordinary things and that's when the fun is great : those simple, humble characters, their slice of life is all i ask to smile, unlike today when comedy means big money, big dashing stars, big effects but big boredom and poor results! I was really impressed by the humanity and chemistry of this duo, so faraway of today norms (except the late John Candy and John Goodman, where is the big actor now ?) . The story is a bit like the future Anchors aweigh with sailors ashore and it's funny how i keep on watching twin movies actually : JCVD, la Bellucci, Noomi, Géraldine… And as my mother during BTTF2, here sometimes i was even lost by which pair it was ! Anyway, this DVD was inside a bigger box-set and as i had so much fun with this 1st one, i'm really impatient now to discover the other as well !

Because of the nature of this comedy, where the duo have twin brothers, who, are getting mistaken for them/each other it was a good vehicle for total confusion that works well.The 'respectable' Ollie and Stan and their twin bad-boy sailor brothers, 'Bert and Alf' get into these scrapes. Ollie and Stan decide NOT to tell their wives that they have no-good twin brothers though, leading to more confusion. So much so, it is hard to explain away the gags - it's far better to watch this film and enjoy it. 'Bert' and 'Alf' naturally will try and pick the girls up, only for the married Stan and Ollie, with their wives in tow, who get split up from the boys allowing further confusion, to be accused later of philandering and so the situations continue. This was well written with plenty of gags. It was nice to see Betty Healy as Stan's missus, as according to IMDb she hadn't had much in the way of acting roles and intentionally or not, she looked a good, gangly and scatty partner to Stan.Of course, the great Jimmy Finlayson played the boys' foil well with some good lines coming his way too.Very good and it reminds us all of why the boys are the greatest comedy duo of all time and rightly so!

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are the most famous comedy duo in history, and deservedly so, so I am happy to see any of their films. Stan and Ollie don't realise their twin brother, Alfie (Laurel) and Bert (Hardy) are in town on shore leave, carrying a valuable pearl ring entrusted to them by their ship's captain. So begins a case of multiple mistaken identity, with Ollie and Stan's wives Daphne (Daphne Pollard) and Betty 'Bubbles' (Betty Healy), some girls Alfie and Bert met in the bar, Alice (Iris Adrian) and Lily (Lona Andre), ship chief engineer Finn (James Finlayson), and of course, eventually, the Captain, SS Periwinkle (Sidney Toler). It all comes to a head when Stan and Ollie wind up with their feet in cement, dumped over the harbour by hoodlums who want the ring they don't have, luckily Alfie and Bert come along to rescue them, and they can all conclude the mistaken identity problems. Filled with good slapstick and all classic comedy you want from a black and white film, at just over an hour, it is an enjoyable film. "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!" was number 60 on 100 Years, 100 Quotes, and Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Worth watching!

A variation on Shakespeare's 'COMEDY OF ERRORS' (there are occasional references to the bard through the film),OUR RELATIONS is one of Laurel and Hardy's better features.It is certainly the most stylishly-produced film they ever made,and arguably the best from a technical viewpoint.If there is a fault it is with the overly-complex and overly-plotted storyline;it does rather mitigate against truly classic and hilarious routines that were evident in SONS OF THE DESERT and WAY OUT WEST(their best feature films),because there is so much story conveyed.And it's debatable if the familiar 'double' device,which was becoming hackneyed even in 1936,can squeeze that much humour out of it's various confusions and mistaken identities.The large number of characters supporting Stan and Ollie are also something of a distraction;some are relevant to the story,others are not so and abruptly depart somewhat improbably during the narrative.These quibbles aside,the film is consistently amusing throughout,with familiar L & H foils (Finlayson,Housman),and those not so familiar (Toler,Hale) giving fine support.The most impressive aspect of OUR RELATIONS is it's technical sheen;it is very handsomely produced;the nightclub set particularly is highly impressive,and possibly the most elaborate and polished production design ever seen in a Laurel and Hardy film.Behind the camera,aspects are pretty accomplished too.Director Harry Lachman,usually more comfortable with straight drama (DANTE'S INFERNO with Spencer Tracy was his other most notable cinematic achievement) handles the comic sequences nicely,and commendably directs with a slick,speedy pace.This quickness has a slight downside;it would have been better if Lachman had sat back on a few occasions to allow L & H to indulge in their slower,yet more nuanced and subtle routines.We do see this near the beginning when Ollie reads a letter from his mother,and Stan conspires to break Ollie's reading glasses.This familiar and intimate bit of business is possibly the funniest scene in the film;the welter of plot complication after means we see virtually none of this well-versed style of theirs from this point on.Their encounters with the various many characters are amusing alright (especially Fin,who is well and truly savaged in his battle with the boys on this occasion),but OUR RELATIONS may have been even superior if Lachman had utilised a more methodical pace and concentration on L & H.Rudolph Mate,one of Hollywood's best Black and White cinematographers of the 30's and 40's, does a very accomplished job on the visuals,with some unexpectedly dramatic lighting,especially with the latter gangster sequence.This scene itself is rather over-stretched and perhaps even a trifle intimidating,with Tiny Sandford,in his final L & H film,not entirely comfortable as a brutish thug here.After being dispatched(entirely by mistake)on the dockside,the gangsters involved unconvincingly vanish from the scene,though Stan,Ollie,Alf and Bert finally meet at the end after all these complications.OUR RELATIONS is not quite the best Laurel and Hardy feature,but only a small handful(WAY OUT WEST,SONS OF THE DESERT,BLOCKHEADS)could probably regard themselves as superior.There are no musical numbers or romantic sub-plots,perhaps because there's so much plot and incident abound! It would have been preferable had there been more emphasis on just L & H themselves,but from a technical and production point of view,OUR RELATIONS is Laurel and Hardy's most polished film;and while not their funniest,is still very amusing.Rating:7 and a half out of 10.