NFR Project: 'Sons of the Desert' (1933)

 

NFR Project: ‘Sons of the Desert’

Dir: William A. Seiter

Scr: Frank Craven, Byron Morgan

Pho: Kenneth Peach

Ed: Bert Jordan

Premiere: Dec. 29, 1933

64 min.

Laurel and Hardy’s best sound film is a compact gem. It moves away from the heavy slapstick of their earlier films and gives them an even more subtle humor, of attitude, reaction, and classic takes.

Here the boys are in their fully formed personas – Stan is the hapless idiot, Ollie the self-important, bossy, know-it-all partner who proves more stupid. Stan is lost in the complexities of the world, but it is Oliver who suffers the most as he tries to dominate and control the chaos around him.

They live next door to each other. Stan is dominated by his wife (their mailbox reads “Mrs. and Mr. Stan Laurel”), whereas Oliver preaches the gospel of self-reliance and male dominance. Both couples are childless – the boys are hardly capable of being father figures. The one film in which they have children, Brats (1930), the kids in question are themselves in miniature. In fact, Oliver, despite his boastful talk, behaves like a naughty boy when in person with his wife 

They belong to the fraternal organization the Sons of the Desert, and are called upon  to attend the group’s convention in Chicago. The boys swear to make the trip, but Stan starts crying when he thinks about telling his wife. Ollie tries to show him how to do it – only to be shot down hard by his own wife.

Ollie concocts a ridiculous scheme whereby he pretends to be ill and must take a trip to Honolulu with Stan to be cured. (A veterinarian is brought in to certify him.) The two escape to Chicago, hamming it up for newsreel cameras, drinking and partying – the great comic Charley Chase plays an obnoxious convention-goer – and having the time of their lives.

They return home only to find their wives out and the front-page headline reading that the boat from Hawaii sank. They hide desperately, trying to think of a way to lie their way out of trouble. Needless to say, after some adventures on a rainy rooftop, the two receive their comeuppance. Stan’s honesty is rewarded, while Ollie takes more blows to the head.

Sons of the Desert lets both Laurel and Hardy take their time on camera. Stan mistakenly eats a wax apple, and we watch him obliviously gag it down for several minutes. Normally, the joke would be over quickly, but Laurel stretches it out with grimaces, looks of confusion, and double takes, getting all the comic mileage out of it that he can. Oliver's gaze at the viewer, looking for commiseration, suspends time for a moment. 

It’s a world in which wives are formidable masters, where Stan enjoys eating wax fruit, and where Ollie turns to the camera and gazes at us in gentle torment. The duo would make more feature films, but none as consistently funny as this.

The NFR is one writer’s attempt to review all the films listed in the National Film Registry in chronological order. Next time: State Fair.