Hello everyone! 🙂

Welcome to ‘Bradley’s Basement’ blog and I’m Tim Bradley!

Recently, my parents and I saw the two Laurel & Hardy films ‘Sons of the Desert’ and ‘Dirty Work’ on the big screen. This was a limited re-release of the two films that happened at Showcase Cinemas in Nantgarw on Sunday the 15th and Tuesday the 17th of October 2023. My parents and I did the 17th. 🙂

I greatly enjoyed revisiting the two L&H films at the cinema. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are my favourite comedy duo in feature films and short films. They never stop being funny every time you watch their films again and again. ‘Sons of the Desert’ and ‘Dirty Work’ are two of their best films. 🙂

When seeing the films on the big screen, you don’t realise how funny the films are until you’re actually watching them in an audience at the cinema. I could hear many audience members laughing away at the films. It’s incredible how Laurel and Hardy continue to keep entertaining people today. 🙂

‘Sons of the Desert’ is one of my favourite L&H films, especially when it depicts the comedic duo going to their Sons of the Desert convention in Chicago and trying to get away with it without their wives knowing. The messages of how lies and deceit can get one into trouble are still relevant today.

“Honesty is the best politics,” as Stan Laurel would say it. 😀 My Dad still sings the song ‘Honolulu Baby’, which is quite catchy to listen to, whether it’s performed at the Sons of the Desert convention in Chicago, sung by Ollie at the door of his and Stan’s homes, and sung by Stan at the film’s end.

There are plenty of funny moments to take away from watching ‘Sons of the Desert’, including the scenes where Stan and Ollie keep getting locked out of their houses early on in the film; the scenes where Ollie makes out he’s ill to his wife; and the scenes where Stan and Ollie are hiding in the attic.

The guest cast in the film are equally very good, including Charley Chase, whom Stan and Ollie meet at the convention; Mae Busch as Lottie, Ollie’s wife; and Dorothy Christy as Betty, Stan’s wife. I still find it funny when Stan is well-treated by Betty, after he told the truth he went to the convention. 🙂

This is in contrast with Ollie, who gets hit with pots, pans and crockery thrown at him by his wife Lottie (or ‘Sugar’ as he likes to call her). Before that happened, it was funny when Ollie suggested in making up to his wife that they go to the mountains, which was what she wanted to do with him. 😀

This caused ‘Sugar’ to go berserk then. 😀 When watching ‘Sons of the Desert’ on the big screen, my Mum was able to notice more details in the film compared to watching it on DVD. This included seeing the labels for the wax fruit in the bowl on the table, as Stan ate one of the wax apples from it. 😀

The presentation of the two L&H films went like this. We had ‘Sons of the Desert’ first which was quickly followed by ‘Dirty Work’. I expected there to be an intermission between the two films or that we would have ‘Dirty Work’ first before ‘Sons of the Desert’. Very interesting it wasn’t like that.

‘Dirty Work’ is an equally funny short film featuring Stan and Ollie. It was hilarious when Stan and Ollie keep going up and down Professor Noodle’s house to sweep the chimney, only for Ollie to end up falling through the chimney, breaking it in the process ( : D ), and he and Stan are covered in soot.

Apparently, something I noticed in my research is that Lucien Littlefield, who plays Professor Noodle in ‘Dirty Work’, also played Dr. Horace Meddick, the Veterinarian, in ‘Sons of the Desert’. I wouldn’t have picked up on this, as Lucien Littlefield played the two characters so differently from each other. 😀

It was funny when Ollie de-evolved into the chimpanzee, played by Jiggs the Chimp ( 😀 ), and he said to Stan, “I have nothing to say.” Once ‘Dirty Work’ was over and the lights went up, my Dad said to me, “I have nothing to say.” “Neither have I,” I replied. 😀 I took that line from Stan, as he said it in ‘Tit for Tat’.

Watching ‘Sons of the Dessert’ and ‘Dirty Work’ with Laurel and Hardy on the big screen has been great. I had a good time watching these films when I saw them at the cinema. They were nice to sit and relax to, and you can’t beat a good double bill of comedy films featuring two comedy legends.

According to my Dad, who read on the Laurel and Hardy Forum on Facebook, there’s a hope that two more L&H films will be released at UK cinemas in December this year. I hope that will happen, since I’ve enjoyed revisiting ‘Sons of the Desert’ and ‘Dirty Work’ lately. I’d like to see more L&H films on the big screen. 🙂

Check out my updated L&H reviews on ‘Sons of the Desert’ and ‘Dirty Work’ today! 🙂

Thanks for reading!

Bye for now!

Tim 🙂