Comments on: Son of the Sons of the Desert

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 04:54:26 +0000

You are forgiven, especially given that I haven’t seen any L&H in years. Actually, I am glad to hear that you still enjoy them. Maybe there’s hope for me …

By: Sam Juliano

Sam Juliano — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 20:58:51 +0000

Rick: Maybe you can help solve this mystery. I love Laurel and Hardy more than I can relate here, I own the massive Region 2 box set of all their films, I have watched THE MARCH OF THE WOODEN SOLDIERS a.k.a. BABES IN TOYLAND maybe 150 times in my life, I think THE MUSIC BOX may be the most perfectly timed short ever made, the revenge tale BIG BUSINESS is an eternal joy, FRA DIOVOLO is charming over and over and so on and so on………but………and here’s the big BUT…..are you sitting down?………I have NEVER liked SONS OF THE DESERT. The humor is just not there for me, and the story is tedious.

Am I banned from CCC? If not, help me out here please.

LOL.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:23:32 +0000

Pat, I remember that TCM did that now that you mention it. But I, like a moron, missed it.

The boys are quite nostalgic for me. We had this humongous black and white television, bought by my folks the year I was born, and we used it throughout the 50s. The sound was scratchy and the picture worse, but I adored it anyway.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:20:19 +0000

Greg, I hope you do rent it, and let me know what you think. I’m going to get some of the shorts I adored and do the same thing.

Good point about comedy shorts being taken over by the likes of Merv and Oprah and Montel. God, I miss them … but the humor was different, more innocent. Would kids these days laugh their tocuses off like we did? I don’t know.

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:17:49 +0000

Krauthammer: Thanks for the reassurance. If a film can be funny in spite of inept editing, etc., then it’s gotta have something. (see yesterday’s TOERIFIC). Unlike the singles — Chaplin, Lloyd and Keaton — it’s the interaction between the members of the team that provide most of the humor. Martin and Lewis was like that, as well — neither was as good without the other.

By: Pat

Pat — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:12:36 +0000

Like you I grew up watching Laurel and Hardy with my Dad, and I always loved them. I have dim memories of “Sons of the Desert,” to be honest, but I love “Way Out West” and “The Music Box.”

Last year, TCM had a 24-hour Laurel and Hardy marathon, including both their feature films and shorts. It was heaven!

By: Greg

Greg — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 17:28:16 +0000

I haven’t seen Stan and Ollie in years myself. I thought they were funny too but now I can’t be sure although Krauthammer seems to confirm they are in fact funny. I grew up in a time when movie comedy was defined by the silents through the forties. Television would run Laurel and Hardy, Little Rascals, and Three Stooges in the same slots that are now filled with afternoon talk shows. I think I’ll rent Sons of the Desert and give it another look.

By: Krauthammer

Krauthammer — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:52:38 +0000

I’ve seen Sons of the Desert within the past year, and it is really damn funny, though it’s a perfect example of a movie succeeding in spite of some pretty dreadful directing. As I remember it, its just filmed scenes with every editing decision seeming false or awkward in some way. They even use star wipes, which I had no idea existed back then.

And although they aren’t as mentioned as Chaplin or Keaton, I do think they still have a following that’s comparable to Harold Lloyd or some such.