http://www.laurelandhardycentral.com/ourrelate.htmlhttp://www.lordheath.com/menu1_145.html OUR RELATIONS, unlike the last few features, is a straight Laurel and Hardy film. Perhaps it's even two Laurel and Hardy films. There are no subplots outside of Stan and Ollie, no musical numbers, yet - two sets of Laurel and Hardys! We get the straighter domestic version of Laurel and Hardy with the two wives and also a twin brother set the wives don't know about who are drinking and carousing sailors. The identity of the twins is hidden from the wives because of their low reputation, the boys are putting on airs, basically. Naturally each set of twins get caught up in some situations, don't run into each other until the end and mass confusion amongst the characters takes place. One of the writers of this film is Felix Adler, the same guy who wrote A MERRY MIX-UP, the Besser era film that was a remake of OUR RELATIONS.
I stated in A MERRY MIX-UP that there was too much plot for a two reeler and the ending felt rushed. That is not the case here. Both sets of Laurel and Hardy get into plenty of situations that take their time to build and coalesce together in the end. Confusion with the sets of twins among the wives where the wives think cheating is going on when they don't realize they see the twins. The husbands being accused of acts of the twins in front of the wives. Confusion over a ring the captain gives a collateral going into each set of twins hands when even the twins get confused about who they're dealing with. James Finlayson getting in a feud with the sailors and taking it out on the husbands. All of these threads come together very well over a six reel feature and make a much more ideal format for this story than the two reel Besser era short.
OUR RELATIONS is much more story oriented than the average Laurel and Hardy film yet there are a few good gag sequences. The phone booth scene with Arthur Housman in excellent. Not quite SCRAMBLED BRAINS good, but very worthy nonetheless. Later in the film, the physical comedy highlight is the boys being cemented buy their feet in a round tub teetering on the edge of the dock. They really milk this scene very well and it's fun hearing their screams and seeing the various combinations of them falling and missing the dock. Again back to Chaplin, but in MODERN TIMES, released the same year as OUR RELATIONS, Chaplin uses a similar almost falling off a ledge device on roller skates.
A very interesting cast here. Stan's wife is played by Betty Healy, the real life wife of Ted Healy! The bar owner is played by Alan Hale, father of The Skipper on Gilligan's Island and silent and golden age character actor who appeared in several big movies, many with Errol Flynn. He played Little John in both the silent and talkie Robin Hood films. Sidney Toler, who played the captain, later on played Charlie Chan for several films at Monogram. Little Daphne Pollard is back and great as Mrs. Hardy. Lona Andre, who was Buster Keaton's leading lady on a few of the Educational shorts we discussed, is one of the two girls at the bar the wives think their husband is cheating with. She's very pretty but does not get the bulk of the lines amongst the two girls, which instead go to Iris Adrian. Again, makes me wish Buster had better leading ladies at Educational. James Finlayson gets one of his many great roles with Stan and Ollie so a good cast overall.
Another enjoyable Roach era feature. Kind of mid level since it's so story oriented and not exactly what Laurel and Hardy are best at, but very good just the same. Next week's film, on the other hand, is prime Laurel and Hardy, so I hope you check that review out too.
