Topic: The Bullfighters (1945) - Laurel and Hardy

[metaldams]

     THE BULLFIGHTERS is the sixth and last film Laurel and Hardy made at Fox and also the last Hollywood film they would ever make (we have one European film left after this).  They were part of Fox Studio’s b unit and it was decided that Fox would no longer make b pictures.  THE BULLFIGHTERS was the last picture the b unit would ever make and since Fox didn’t really care about this final b picture, Stan Laurel was given more control here than on any other post Roach film.  A few scenarios and gags from the Roach days show up, but what is most stunning is that for the first time since the Roach days, we are dealing with a straight linear plot that involves almost nothing but Laurel and Hardy.  Not one romantic couple to be found and as far as music goes, there is one fun and sexy dance scene at about the midway point, done by Diosa Costello.  Even then, Stan and Ollie enter a night club organically along with the plot, so it makes sense they’d see a dance.  Going forward, I am going to be talking about the comedy and plot together since they are mostly intertwined.  Spoiler alerts throughout.

      The most famous bits from THE BULLFIGHTERS are not one, but two reciprocal retaliation scenes that are close together in the film.  While none of them top the battles they had with Charlie Hall and James Finlayson, both are well done.  Stan and Ollie, after all these years, still pantomime wonderfully and communicate well together through mere gesture.  One of the last gasps of silent comedy in American film can be seen in these bits.  The first bit is a scene at a water fountain with Edward Gargan and the second is a remake of the scene they had with Lupe Vélez in HOLLYWOOD PARTY.  In the latter, the boys are private detectives trying to capture a criminal who escaped to Mexico, played by Carole Andrews.  When attempting to arrest her, she hits them on the head with a heel.  Realizing it’s wrong to hit a lady, the retaliation against her involves breaking eggs in her belongings, be it glove, purse or hat.  Great scene here and definitely a latter era highlight. 

     The latter part of the film involves Stan having a look alike in a bullfighter, so of course everyone confuses him for the bullfighter.  When the real bullfighter is delayed, the bullfighter’s manager, played wonderfully by fast talking Richard Lane, convinces Stan to pose as the bullfighter for publicity purposes.  The reason Stan agrees is because the promoter, played by Ralph Sanford, was previously arrested in the U.S. due to Stan and Ollie convicting him in court- it turns out wrongly.  The promoter promises to skin Stan and Ollie alive if he ever sees them again, so Stan can be in his presence if he thinks Stan is the bullfighter.  The second half has gags and situations that revolve around this premise, very similar to what the boys dealt with Walter Long in GOING-BYE BYE!  The only difference is this time they are skinned alive versus having their legs broken and wrapped around their heads.  The final scene of the film, the boys do get caught by the promoter and sure enough, are skeletons with their heads attached.  Great visual to end their Hollywood career.

      The main problem with THE BULLFIGHTERS is the good stuff has been done before and the climatic slapstick scene amounts to a bunch of bulls being let loose into an arena, amounting to a lot of running people and stock footage.  So yeah, far from a perfect film, but a good film overall and possibly the best thing they ever did outside of Roach, with THE DANCING MASTERS being the only competition.  A concise, fun film that is comfortably familiar for long time fans and a great way to say farewell to Hollywood.  We have one more film to go.  Strap yourselves in, in two weeks, we wrap up this epic review spree with ATOLL K!

[Umbrella Sam]

Well, this was another pleasant surprise. This is tied with JITTERBUGS as my favorite of the post-Roach Laurel and Hardy films. Whereas I like JITTERBUGS for doing something different while maintaining the Laurel and Hardy style, this one I like for feeling like a straight-out Laurel and Hardy film throughout.

Yes, Laurel and Hardy don’t have to deal with romantic interests; they are definitely in the spotlight, backed by a supporting cast that, though not exactly like the Roach supporting cast, still holds up well on their own (similar to the cast in JITTERBUGS). Richard Lane, especially, makes for a good straight man to Laurel and Hardy’s antics.

To an extent, comedy routines in this film are done from previous films, but unlike THE DANCING MASTERS and THE BIG NOISE, they aren’t just exact duplicates of the originals. Though the Muldoon setup is a bit similar to the one in GOING BYE-BYE!, the actual plot itself is used to incorporate more supporting players into the act, notably Lane. The first reciprocal retaliation scene with Edward Gargan isn’t as big as the older ones, but is still different enough from them to stand out. It’s a lot of fun, especially at the end when Gargan and Hardy try to team on Laurel, only to fail. The scene with Carol Andrews is a bit more similar to the original scene from HOLLYWOOD PARTY, but...hey, at least we get to see it in an actual Laurel and Hardy film, not a film where they’re just supporting players. Although, it was strange of them to put in all those bird sound effects.

Other fun moments include: the recurring gag of Stan falling over after being kissed, Ollie trying to reach Stan via the telephone while trapped in the booth, Diosa Costello unintentionally stabbing Hardy with the sword, the scene with Lane, Laurel, and Hardy messing up each other’s hats. Lots of fun material in here. While it is a bit disappointing to see the climax filled with so much stock footage, I still do like the reactions of everyone when they see Stan and the bullfighter in the ring at the same time (even Sebastian takes a moment to acknowledge the similar facial features). The ending is dark, but it does seem like the type of ending Stan wanted and it’s not like THE BOHEMIAN GIRL where Stan and Ollie are unintentionally punished for reuniting a family.

Not much more to say about this film. It’s got a nice plot and funny gags, which is all I can really ask for in a Laurel and Hardy film. It’s still not a perfect film, but it wasn’t a bad way to say farewell to their career as a team in Hollywood.

8 out of 10

[metaldams]

Glad you like this one, Sam. 

Speaking of HOLLYWOOD PARTY, believe it or not, I’ve never seen the entire film.  I’ve seen the Stooge and Laurel and Hardy scenes separately, but never the whole thing.  I’m going to remedy that soon, the film is available.  Lupe Vélez adds a lot of energy to her scene in the original.

[Dr. Mabuse]

Stan and Ollie's second-best effort for Fox ("Jitterbugs" is my personal favorite), with some inventive routines and that memorable closing shot. No classic, but a vast improvement over the blandness of "Great Guns," "Air Raid Wardens" and "Nothing But Trouble." The 60-minute running time doesn't hurt either.

7/10

[Steveb]

Interestingly, Fox wanted Laurel and Hardy back after BULLFIGHTERS, not to make more of their own B films, as has been previously supposed, but to appear as support in Betty Grable musicals. That might have been fun, but they didn't want to do it.

[metaldams]

Interestingly, Fox wanted Laurel and Hardy back after BULLFIGHTERS, not to make more of their own B films, as has been previously supposed, but to appear as support in Betty Grable musicals. That might have been fun, but they didn't want to do it.

That would have been a serious demotion and further guarantee for lack of creative control.  Not surprised, considering The Ritz Brothers started at Fox as comedy relief in musicals and then graduated to their own features, so there’s precedent with that kind of thing.

[Steveb]

I read that Margo Woode and Frank McCown/Rory Calhoun were originally supposed to have a subplot to themselves, but either it got cut or wasn't filmed. It would explain Woode's major billing.

[HomokHarcos]

This is an enjoyable comedy film. It actually feels the closest to the Roach movies of any that they made with Fox. The gags and situations feel like they came from Stan Laurel. Really the only thing it is missing is the Roach stock company, if you were to add that it would probably be a well-liked Laurel and Hardy movie. A nice enjoyable 60 minutes.

[GenoCuddy]

My review:

In direct contrast to NOTHING BUT TROUBLE, I heavily enjoyed THE BULLFIGHTERS. It is one of my favorites of the post-Roach period and for good reason, Stan Laurel himself had much creative input on its production.

There are gags aplenty that land perfectly. From a duel at a water fountain with Edward Gargan that echoes similar sequences in TIT FOR TAT [1935] and other great Roach films, to the sequence where the boys engage in a battle of yolks with Carol Andrews that is reminiscent of their cameo appearance in 1934's HOLLYWOOD PARTY with Lupe Velez, to Stan and Ollie's telephone routine lifted from BLOTTO [1930].

THE BULLFIGHTERS plays as a greatest hits, of sorts, of memorable Laurel and Hardy bits and what a perfect way for the boys to end their American screen careers.

If JITTERBUGS [1943] was Oliver Hardy's movie, than this is Stan's. Not only does he pull off an excellent performance in the dual role of himself and courageous Don Sebastian, he is also more central to the plot than he had been in the previous films.

The visual gags are also a highlight, with a fellow at the restaurant wearing one of the silliest masks you've seen this side of SESAME STREET, Stan looking positively ridiculous in his toreador costume and the end gag comes out of nowhere and is the single most surreal image from any of their Fox features.

If I have any complaints at all, it's the fact that the sound effects man was much too trigger happy, and while the sequence where the boys mix it up with Carol Andrews is fun, I could have done without the chicken sound effects.

The only other complaint that I have is with Richard Lane's line delivery being much too fast, I had to rewind a few times to understand what he was trying to convey.

Small complaints aside, THE BULLFIGHTERS was an absolute delight from start to finish, and if I were a revisionist [which I'm not] I would declare THE BULLFIGHTERS as the best movie to end your career on, sadly this is not the case with Laurel and Hardy as their TRUE last effort was vastly inferior, but I will say no more about that.

[Dr. Mabuse]

Fox wanted Laurel and Hardy back after BULLFIGHTERS, not to make more of their own B films, as has been previously supposed, but to appear as support in Betty Grable musicals.

Scott McGillivray's revised edition of Laurel & Hardy: From the Forties Forward (2009) tells a different story:  "Stan and Babe had been off the Fox lot for about six months when 'The Bullfighters' was playing profitably in first-run houses. Fox offered to sign the comedians for another five years — quite a bold and flattering move, considering that the studio would have been reopening a separate unit just for them. Laurel & Hardy declined, and the B division remained closed."

In 1951, Stan and Ollie told a Los Angeles Times reporter that they asked for their release from Fox, which wasn't true since the studio shut down its B department. "Otherwise Fox would have gone ahead with another Laurel & Hardy picture in the spring of 1945," McGillivray wrote. "Conditions had been steadily improving since the debacle of 'A-Haunting We Will Go' — so the team stayed with Fox until the very end of its very last B production. The team might have enjoyed even more freedom in their next picture, had the B unit continued without interruption."

All of the Fox pictures were box-office hits and Stan was finally allowed to direct a few scenes in "The Bullfighters" — it wasn't like the glory days at Roach, but it was a helluva lot better than MGM's assembly-line coldness. In any event, Laurel & Hardy pulled the plug on their Hollywood career while remaining solid moneymakers. Creative frustrations aside, Stan and Ollie might have needed a rest after completing eight features within four years.

Fox never wanted Laurel & Hardy as supporting players. However, RKO offered the team featured roles in its 1951 musical "Two Tickets to Broadway." Stan and Ollie's plan was to finish "Atoll K" before RKO started production in November 1950. Unfortunately, they were still toiling away in France and RKO replaced them with Smith & Dale.

[Steveb]

Scott McGillivray's revised edition of Laurel & Hardy: From the Forties Forward (2009) tells a different story:  "Stan and Babe had been off the Fox lot for about six months when 'The Bullfighters' was playing profitably in first-run houses. Fox offered to sign the comedians for another five years — quite a bold and flattering move, considering that the studio would have been reopening a separate unit just for them. Laurel & Hardy declined, and the B division remained closed."

In 1951, Stan and Ollie told a Los Angeles Times reporter that they asked for their release from Fox, which wasn't true since the studio shut down its B department. "Otherwise Fox would have gone ahead with another Laurel & Hardy picture in the spring of 1945," McGillivray wrote. "Conditions had been steadily improving since the debacle of 'A-Haunting We Will Go' — so the team stayed with Fox until the very end of its very last B production. The team might have enjoyed even more freedom in their next picture, had the B unit continued without interruption."

All of the Fox pictures were box-office hits and Stan was finally allowed to direct a few scenes in "The Bullfighters" — it wasn't like the glory days at Roach, but it was a helluva lot better than MGM's assembly-line coldness. In any event, Laurel & Hardy pulled the plug on their Hollywood career while remaining solid moneymakers. Creative frustrations aside, Stan and Ollie might have needed a rest after completing eight features within four years.

Fox never wanted Laurel & Hardy as supporting players. However, RKO offered the team featured roles in its 1951 musical "Two Tickets to Broadway." Stan and Ollie's plan was to finish "Atoll K" before RKO started production in November 1950. Unfortunately, they were still toiling away in France and RKO replaced them with Smith & Dale.

I got the information from the revised and expanded third edition of "Laurel and Hardy, the Magic Behind the Movies" in Paperback, published in 2019.(Page 570: "Fox now wanted to put Stan and Babe in supporting roles in musicals, rather than starring them in their own pictures" He also said this on a podcast) Skretvedt obviously found this information after the publication of Scott's revised book in 2009. Given Fox's trumpeted abandonment of B films and focus on "prestige" films, was it really likely that they would have continued making L&H B movies?

[Dr. Mabuse]

Skretvedt obviously found this information after the publication of Scott's revised book in 2009.

Thanks for the Skretvedt reference. I came across this UPI interview from March 24, 1945 (two months before the release of "The Bullfighters") that revealed the extent of Laurel and Hardy's displeasure with Fox and MGM.  The interviewer was Virginia MacPherson, who did not receive a byline in this Hanford Morning Journal clipping (the most complete article I could find). 

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79596705/hanford-morning-journal/

[Freddie Sanborn]

Fox couldn’t have been too pleased about a nationally syndicated interview slamming their product before it even hit the screen. Babe was usually less vocal than Stan about the quality of their Fox work, even naming Jitterbugs as one of his favorite pictures. But here they’re pretty much on the same page. 

I really think exhaustion played a big role in their decision to take a hiatus. Both men had been working constantly on stage and screen since their teenage years. Unfortunately, in Hollywood, a lengthy sabbatical can be a career-killer.

[Steveb]

Fox couldn’t have been too pleased about a nationally syndicated interview slamming their product before it even hit the screen. Babe was usually less vocal than Stan about the quality of their Fox work, even naming Jitterbugs as one of his favorite pictures. But here they’re pretty much on the same page. 

I really think exhaustion played a big role in their decision to take a hiatus. Both men had been working constantly on stage and screen since their teenage years. Unfortunately, in Hollywood, a lengthy sabbatical can be a career-killer.

And if Fox wanted L&H back but didn't want to make more B films, it was natural that they'd think of having them play old-time vaudevillians or the Heroine's encouraging friends in nostalgic musicals(like Jack Oakie or Phil Silvers did). L&H probably declined because they still wouldn't have control over their material.

[GenoCuddy]

Thanks for the Skretvedt reference. I came across this UPI interview from March 24, 1945 (two months before the release of "The Bullfighters") that revealed the extent of Laurel and Hardy's displeasure with Fox and MGM.  The interviewer was Virginia MacPherson, who did not receive a byline in this Hanford Morning Journal clipping (the most complete article I could find). 

https://www.newspapers.com/clip/79596705/hanford-morning-journal/

That article is enlightening as well as disappointing. I had always heard that their experiences with the studios was less-than-stellar, but when even the usually non-vocal Oliver Hardy disparages that era, it is hard to ignore the mistreatment they endured. I still very much like the Fox films for what they are, but I'd be lying if I didn't say that this article may have slightly disillusioned me to them.

[Dr. Mabuse]

Unfortunately, in Hollywood, a lengthy sabbatical can be a career-killer.

Harold Lloyd took a two-year break between films (1930-32), which only hastened his box-office decline.

[Steveb]

Fox couldn’t have been too pleased about a nationally syndicated interview slamming their product before it even hit the screen. Babe was usually less vocal than Stan about the quality of their Fox work, even naming Jitterbugs as one of his favorite pictures. But here they’re pretty much on the same page. 

I really think exhaustion played a big role in their decision to take a hiatus. Both men had been working constantly on stage and screen since their teenage years. Unfortunately, in Hollywood, a lengthy sabbatical can be a career-killer.

An RKO studios memo that considered Ollie as a replacement for Edgar Kennedy after Kennedy's death says "look up status of Stan Laurel who may have retired". I think most of Hollywood assumed that both Men had retired after BULLFIGHTERS.

[GenoCuddy]

An RKO studios memo that considered Ollie as a replacement for Edgar Kennedy after Kennedy's death says "look up status of Stan Laurel who may have retired". I think most of Hollywood assumed that both Men had retired after BULLFIGHTERS.

I'm not going to lie, after seeing Hardy's work in JITTERBUGS, a solo series would have been most intriguing, if not completely successful.
However, considering RKO's failed experiment to split up Wheeler and Woolsey, Hardy may have dodged a bullet.

[metaldams]

I'm not going to lie, after seeing Hardy's work in JITTERBUGS, a solo series would have been most intriguing, if not completely successful.
However, considering RKO's failed experiment to split up Wheeler and Woolsey, Hardy may have dodged a bullet.

Agreed about the Wheeler and Woolsey solo hatchet jobs, but in this case, it would have been shorts instead of padded out features.  No guarantees, but a better chance Ollie may have done good work in shorts versus Bert and Bob’s solo features.

[Steveb]

Harold Lloyd took a two-year break between films (1930-32), which only hastened his box-office decline.

I thought MOVIE CRAZY did well in 1932. Didn't the distinct 20s flavor of his character also hurt him later?

[Freddie Sanborn]

To me, Harold had a milquetoast voice which was at odds with his go-getter character. My understanding is that each feature made less and less money after Welcome Danger. Joe E. Brown made what were essentially Harold Lloyd features throughout the 1930’s, which were much more profitable than Harold’s own work. This may be because Warner Brothers had an assembly line to churn them out and Harold was his own production company with the overhead that entails.

[Dr. Mabuse]

Didn't the distinct '20s flavor of his character also hurt him later?

According to Tom Dardis' 1983 biography The Man on the Clock, the distinct '20s flavor of Harold Lloyd's character became a commercial detriment with "Feet First" (1930) — the beginning of his irreversible box-office decline. "Lloyd had picked the worst possible time to make a film about success [in the Depression era]," Dardis wrote. Though "Feet First" did well (grossing $1.5 million worldwide), it made only half as much as Lloyd's first talkie, "Welcome Danger" (1929).

Despite the shrunken profit margin, Lloyd continued to spend lavishly on his Paramount-distributed productions. "Movie Crazy" (which Dardis called "Harold's 'stand or fall' sound film") had a budget of $675,353 ($28,000 more than "Feet First") but grossed only $1.4 million worldwide — resulting in a disappointingly small profit. "It is clear now that if an impoverished [1932] audience was going to see a new comedy, it would be [Eddie] Cantor and the Marx Brothers who received the lion's share of the business," Dardis noted. 

As producer, Lloyd was able to hide this information from the public and blamed Paramount for his box-office downturn. Paramount's head of distribution told Lloyd to lower his production costs if he wanted to stay in the black (diplomatically sidestepping Harold's declining popularity and changing audience tastes). Lloyd refused and took his business to Fox, where he made his first commercial flop, "The Cat's-Paw" (1934). After he abandoned independent production, Lloyd's last three films — "The Milky Way" (1936), "Professor Beware" (1938) and "The Sin of Harold Diddlebock" (1947) — went way over budget and had no hope of recouping their production costs.

[Steveb]

To me, Harold had a milquetoast voice which was at odds with his go-getter character. My understanding is that each feature made less and less money after Welcome Danger. Joe E. Brown made what were essentially Harold Lloyd features throughout the 1930’s, which were much more profitable than Harold’s own work. This may be because Warner Brothers had an assembly line to churn them out and Harold was his own production company with the overhead that entails.

Yes, Joe E. Brown had a much less annoying voice(a lot of people today might disagree), which was imitated for "Peter Potamus" and "Lippy the Lion" at Hanna-Barbera. What's puzzling about Brown(Wow, I'm going way off-topic)is why he left Warner in 1936 to work for an unproven independent. He wrote later that it was "bad advice and a disastrous move". 

[metaldams]

The only Joe E. Brown movie I’ve seen from his starring days (not counting a couple of later support roles, one of them being obvious) is BROADMINDED and that’s only because of Bela Lugosi.  Need to check out more of his work.  Weird to think of Brown outcrossing Lloyd, but I guess it makes sense.  Modern perceptions of comedians are different from back then.  After all, Keaton’s MGM work was his most profitable.

Whatever the receipts of Lloyd’s talkies, I think artistically they’re a good body of work.

[NoahYoung]

I find this to be a good L&H movie, with no qualifications. (e.g. "for a Fox movie".) I last watched it about a month ago, and specifically paid attention to the ending with stock footage. etc. I agree it's sloppy, but I believe the stock footage amounts to just a few minutes, definitely less than 5. Also, we get the follow-up which is the real ending -- a classic L&H freak ending.

As fans, we would have liked the boys to continue their movie career (with more than just "Atoll K"), but they probably made the right decisions for themselves, on a personal level. They continued performing, and continued to earn a living. The big plus is that they performed live, and got to hear audience laughter. I doubt they often attended public screenings of their films in a theater.

After that last viewing of this movie, I got an idea, had I been living in 1945 and was a Fox big-wig. I would have teamed Richard Lane with the boys in a series of movies. I think their chemistry was wonderful. Richard Lane looks genuinely annoyed when Stan calls him "Potshot." In each film, the boys would be working for Richard Lane in some capacity. There wouldn't need to be any continuity between films, as that would have resulted in a stagnation of creativity. Just a thought -- what could have been.

But again, the boys did pretty well for themselves financially for the rest of their lives. Did they make as much money as they did in films? Probably not. I have read (probably in the McCabe biography, "Mr. Laurel & Mr. Hardy"), however, that Stan, until the day he died, was "well off" and in no need of money.