But arguably the King of Comedy at the time was another of one of Hal Roach’s collaborators, Harold Lloyd. Laurel and Hardy had in their 2 years together as a team established themselves as one of the biggest box office draws in the world.

Eager to use some of the discarded footage of the boys swapping trousers in the streets of Culver City, Stan built an entire new film of two convicts on the run around it. It’s noticeably more sophisticated than the usual Laurel and Hardy effort, largely filmed in close-up with some subtle performances, it sees the team as two rather nasty, rebellious husbands lying to their wives and getting their just desserts! Making these silent movies often saw the cast improvise around a scenario on set or location and clearly this worked as the movie came in at 10 minutes longer than required. McCarey had just directed the boys in a cheeky domestic romp entitled “We Faw Down”. The onus on Roach’s film-makers at this time therefore was to save money and make money in readiness for the uncertain times ahead. A synchronised soundtrack of comic sound effects and an orchestral score would be shipped out on records alongside the film itself to theatres in December.

Already in the can, “Habeus Corpus”, a spooky silent comedy about grave-robbing was being readied as the first Stan and Ollie “sound” picture. This was a risky and expensive undertaking and would take months. It stands today as one of their funniest achievements but also as an important transitional moment in their film-making.īy the time the film was being written in September 1928 by Stan and his regular director, Leo McCarey, the Hal Roach Studios had virtually committed to moving production to synchronised sound. “Liberty” was released in January 1929 and was the 28th short comedy Laurel and Hardy had made together.

Top 20 laurel and hardy films