Review of Laurel & Hardy: Be Big/Laughing Gravy

Introduction

‘Be Big’ and ‘Laughing Gravy’ are probably two of Laurel and Hardy’s best known short movies. This DVD focuses on these two films, and contains no less than five different versions of these two films, all different.

‘Be Big’ sees the Laurels and the Hardys packing for a holiday together. A friend from the boy’s ‘lodge’ calls saying there is to be a party that night in their honour. Desperate to get out of the holiday so they can go to the party, Ollie fakes a terrible illness and he suggests that the wives travel on as planned. Stan will stay to look after Ollie and they will both travel down the next day. Of course they really intend to attend the party! The wives leave, and Stan and Ollie get changed, with much comic capers along the way. Oh dear – the wives miss their train, and return home to catch the boys in the act, in full uniform! All hell then breaks loose…

‘Laughing Gravy’ sees Stan and Ollie as tenants in a rented room in a guest house, with the landlord’s room being directly below theirs. They have sneaked their little dog into the room with them, Laughing Gravy, and they know they will be thrown out onto the streets if the landlord finds out. Settling down to sleep on a cold snowy night, Stan starts to hiccup, which starts little Laughing Gravy barking. Panicking, Ollie tries to quieten it down before the landlord hears. Well he does hear, finds the dog and throws it out into the snow. Ollie goes out to try to rescue it but gets locked out and the laughs really start. A letter arrives for Stan claiming he will come into his Great Uncle’s fortune, if he severs all ties with Ollie, who is blamed for leading Stan astray. Ollie keeps Laughing Gravy as the pair split up, but Stan then tears up the letter saying he could not bear to be apart. Ollie gets a little cross when he discovers Stan means the dog and not him!

This DVD contains the standard English releases of these two movies, with Laughing Gravy having an extended ‘3 reel’ version also that has a different ending to the standard 2 reel release that was seen in theatres. You can then choose to watch the German versions of these films, or the English versions with various subtitles.

Also the DVD contains the two feature length versions that were released in Spain (‘Los Calaveras’) and France (‘Les Carottiers’), where both of these films were combined into one film. For these versions, no dubbing was undertaken, and all the dialogue scenes were actually re-shot with Stan and Ollie actually speaking in Spanish and French!

Video

OK – as I am sure you realise, we are talking 1930s vintage here.

These films are newly restored and painstakingly preserved original versions, transferred to safety film from the best surviving 35mm prints, in order to preserve them for future generations.

Of course there are lots of crackles and dust on screen, but I can honestly say these are the best quality L&H versions I have ever seen (and I have seen most of them and have loads on tape!).

Audio

Again the audio has been tidied up, with a lot less hiss and background noise to what I have heard before. Dolby Digital Mono sends all the ‘Here’s another fine messes’ to your speakers.

Features

There are no real extras as such, but the DVD is a little unusual in that respect anyway, in that it is aimed at fans and collectors, so you could say the whole disc is extras!

The different versions of these films provide alternative endings, foreign language versions and two or three reel versions, and a booklet accompanies the DVD which provides limited background information.

Conclusion

This DVD is a must for any collector or L&H fan.

This is the only time some of these versions of these two well known L&H movies have been released, and some have never been seen before. All the films have their original titles reinstated, and two of the films have new footage that has never been released before.

The restoration has done much to preserve these titles, and hopefully some of their other classics will get the same treatment.

When looking at the German versions of these two films, it is apparent that two entirely different characters were created called ‘Dick Und Doof’. Hardy is ‘Dick’ and Laurel is ‘Doof’ and there is totally new music to replace the familiar theme tunes, and the whole thing resembles a bit of a sitcom! So much so in fact that the background music had me thinking about ‘The Good Life’ and the font the titles appeared in resembled that used in ‘The Goodies’ in the mid 70s! You have to see it to believe it I think.

Overall this is real collector’s fodder. Casual viewers may wonder why there are so many different versions of essentially the same pair of films, and also why two of the full length feature films carry foreign language audio! True fans will lap it up however, and eagerly await the next of the L&H movies to get the restoration treatment, and to see what other unseen versions of these eternal classics in film history still exist.