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Free Admission! English subtitles will be provided.
UCLA Film & Television Archive is celebrating Laurel & Hardy to kick off a major preservation effort to restore all of the surviving negatives of Laurel & Hardy at UCLA, most of which have been seriously abused by generations of rereleases. With this program, the Archive also kicks off a new website and an international fundraising effort through that site, which will also feature lots of “Stan and Ollie” lore, and on-going reports of our preservation efforts. Thanks to the generosity of Mr. Jeff Joseph, a major lead gift has already been pledged for the first project.
The comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy (or “El Gordo y El Flaco,” as they were known in Spanish) was active in Hollywood for decades, first starring in silent shorts, and later, sound shorts and features. While silent films were relatively easy to adapt for a foreign audience by removing English intertitles and replacing them with those written in a different language, it would prove much trickier to adapt sound films. Several early Laurel & Hardy sound comedies present an innovative solution to this problem by releasing multi-language versions without over-dubbing. Each short was reshot with Laurel & Hardy speaking their lines in a foreign language (Spanish, Italian, French or German) while surrounded by a supporting cast of native speakers. These two comedies were shown at the First UCLA Festival of Preservation: La Vida Nocturna and Politiquerias. It is amazing to watch these talented comedians maintain their comic timing both verbally and physically all while speaking in an unfamiliar language. (For those not acquainted with the original versions, plot synopses and subtitles will be provided in English).
In La Vida Nocturna (Blotto) Stan feigns an urgent business telegram to escape from a tedious evening at home and go to a nightclub with Ollie. To better enjoy the evening, Stan sneaks a bottle of liquor out with him. Little do the boys know that Stan’s wife, wise to their plans, has refilled the bottle with cold tea. Politiquerias (Chickens Come Home) features Ollie as a mayoral candidate whose former girlfriend tries to blackmail him. Ollie’s wife is giving a dinner party for his campaign at the same time that the blackmailer demands to see him. The Rogue Song is considered a lost film (only the soundtrack and fragments survive) making this trailer a valuable historical document.
Amanda Bradshaw
