This is the first feature-length Laurel and Hardy movie I'd seen. Before this I'd only caught bits and pieces of the shorts if they happened to be on TV while I was waiting for something else. It made me decide to watch as many of their movies as I can.
Our Relations is an inventive comedy, and made me realise how lazy slapstick has become - someone simply falling over is now thought of as enough to raise a smile from the audience. Here, every scene and every prop has its potential realised completely. What surprised me was how violent some of it was (setting someone's chest hair on fire, putting a light bulb in someone's mouth and punching their jaw so it explodes) but it is done more in the spirit of Tom and Jerry than Itchy and Scratchy, and throws in some cartoon sound effects just to make sure.
It's no revelation pointing out that Laurel and Hardy have real charm and great timing, but I want to point it out anyway. I found it impossible to take my eyes off them regardless of who else was on screen, and they work so well as a double act and are so great individually that I couldn't decide on a favourite.
I'm glad I finally watched one of their movies, and I feel now like I felt when I watched my first Hitchcock; that there's all those movies waiting for me, and all I have to do is work my way through them.
Our Relations is an inventive comedy, and made me realise how lazy slapstick has become - someone simply falling over is now thought of as enough to raise a smile from the audience. Here, every scene and every prop has its potential realised completely. What surprised me was how violent some of it was (setting someone's chest hair on fire, putting a light bulb in someone's mouth and punching their jaw so it explodes) but it is done more in the spirit of Tom and Jerry than Itchy and Scratchy, and throws in some cartoon sound effects just to make sure.
It's no revelation pointing out that Laurel and Hardy have real charm and great timing, but I want to point it out anyway. I found it impossible to take my eyes off them regardless of who else was on screen, and they work so well as a double act and are so great individually that I couldn't decide on a favourite.
I'm glad I finally watched one of their movies, and I feel now like I felt when I watched my first Hitchcock; that there's all those movies waiting for me, and all I have to do is work my way through them.