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Celebrating Laurel & Hardy

The Music Box (1932)
March 7, 2015 - 3:00 pm
In-person: 
Randy Skretvedt; Scott MacQueen, head of preservation, UCLA Film & Television Archive.

UCLA Film & Television Archive continues its long-term initiative to restore the legacy of Laurel & Hardy, working with negatives that have survived (sometimes only barely) decades of abuse and neglect.  This major restoration effort is supported by the Archive’s Laurel & Hardy Preservation Fund.  Launched with a lead gift from Mr. Jeff Joseph, the fund has received gifts from numerous concerned members of the public, enabling this important work to proceed, reconnecting the entertainers to their audience in a meaningful way.  In this program, we showcase the latest projects restored via this ongoing effort.

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by The Packard Humanities Institute.

De Bote en Bote  (1931)

Pardon Us

In the Spanish-language version of Laurel & Hardy’s first feature film Pardon Us, Stan and Ollie (or “El Gordo y El Flaco,” as they were known in Spanish) find themselves in the clink after a bootlegging endeavor goes awry.  A loose tooth that makes Stan blow a raspberry every time he speaks gets the boys deeper and deeper in trouble with the warden and fellow inmates, as they are haplessly embroiled in the breakout schemes of a notorious prisoner.  Expanded in length to recoup the costs of its expensive prison set, the feature displays some uncertainties in adjusting from the two-reel format that the duo preferred: the extended escape sequence, an attempt to parody prison break dramas of the time, was received tepidly by contemporary audiences.  The sequence features Laurel & Hardy in blackface, attempting to evade the prison guards by pretending to be sharecroppers, as well as some indelicate lines around racial identity, though this appearance in blackface represented a departure from their work together.

 While one pun-heavy scene from Pardon Us did not make the transition to Spanish, De Bote En Bote remains otherwise faithful to the original, with the Prohibition context of the original story explained via an introductory title card.  Adapting sound films for a foreign audience presented a challenge, but Laurel & Hardy sound comedies adopted a clever, if labor-intensive, solution: each scene was reshot with the boys speaking their lines in a foreign language, surrounded by a supporting cast of native speakers.  De Bote En Bote was filmed simultaneously with French, German and Italian versions, such that each scene would be shot four times, each in a different language, before the next scene began—a true comic feat as Laurel & Hardy maintain their timing verbally and physically all while running through a quartet of unfamiliar languages.  —Nina Rao

Director:  James Parrott.  Production: Hal Roach Studios, Inc.  Distribution: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.  Producer: Hal Roach.  Screenwriter: H.M. Walker.  Cinematographer: Jack Stevens.  Editor: Richard Currier.  Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, June Marlowe, Enrique Acosta, Alfonso Pedroza.  35mm, b/w, in Spanish, 61 min.

Restored from the 35mm nitrate original camera picture and track negatives, and a 35mm acetate fine grain master.  Laboratory services by The Stanford Theater Film Lab, Pacific Title & Art Studio, The Cinemalab, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio, Simon Daniel Sound.  Special thanks to: the Library of Congress, Sonar Entertainment.

Preceded by

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by The Winklevoss Foundation in memory of Frank Leonard.

The Midnight Patrol  (1933)


Novice police officers Laurel & Hardy have an eventful evening when they’re called to investigate a housebreaking.  Hampered by a lost address, an irritable safecracker, and an uncooperative house, the boys’ determination to serve and protect leads to a series of comic mishaps, as they find their suspect isn’t quite who he seems to be.  —Nina Rao

Director: Lloyd French. Production: Hal Roach Studios, Inc.  Distribution: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.  Producer: Hal Roach.  Cinematographer: Art Lloyd.  Editor: Bert Jordan.  Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Bob Kortman, Charlie Hall, Frank Brownlee.  35mm, b/w, 20 min.

Restored from a 35mm nitrate picture lavender and 35mm track negatives, and a 35mm nitrate composite lavender print.  Laboratory services by The Cinemalab, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio.  Special thanks to: Sonar Entertainment, The British Film Institute.

Restored by UCLA Film & Television Archive with funding provided by The Winklevoss Foundation in memory of Fran Leonard; Jeff Joseph/Sabucat; The Carl David Memorial Fund for Film Preservation; and the UCLA Film & Television Archive Laurel & Hardy Preservation Fund, including the support of many Sons of the Desert tents.

The Music Box  (1932)


In this iconic Academy Award-winning short, Stan and Ollie’s Sisyphean efforts to deliver a piano to the home at the top of an impossibly long staircase (a public way in Silver Lake now known as the “Music Box Steps”) are stymied by passersby, the police and the topography itself, with unfortunate results for the titular instrument and its intended recipient.  —Nina Rao

Director: James Parrott.  Production: Hal Roach Studios, Inc.  Distribution: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.  Producer: Hal Roach.  Cinematographer: Len Powers.  Screenwriter: H.M. Walker.  Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Billy Gilbert, Charlie Hall, Lilyan Irene.  35mm, b/w, 29 min.

Restored from the 35mm nitrate picture and track negatives, the 35mm nitrate work print and a 35mm nitrate work track.  Laboratory services by The Cinemalab, Audio Mechanics, DJ Audio, Simon Daniel Sound.  Special thanks to: Sonar Entertainment; Katie Trainor—the Museum of Modern Art.