Laurel and Hardy: On the high seas
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | On the high seas |
| Original title | Saps at Sea |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1940 |
| length | 57 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | Gordon Douglas |
| script |
Felix Adler Harry Langdon Gilbert Pratt Charley Rogers |
| production | Hal Roach |
| music |
Marvin Hatley Leroy Shield |
| camera | Kind of Lloyd |
| cut |
William H. Ziegler Earl Knight |
| occupation | |
| |
| chronology | |
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← Predecessors |
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On the high seas is an American feature film by Laurel and Hardy from the year 1940 . It was the last film of the two as part of Hal Roach Studios . On the high seas it had its premiere on May 3, 1940, the Austrian theatrical release was on June 17, 1949, while the German premiere took place on December 22, 1949. In Germany, in contrast to the current title, it was also called “Adventure on the High Seas” and “Whenever He Heard Horns” or in Austria “Heroes on the High Seas”.
action
Oliver and Stan work under terrible working conditions in the quality inspection department of a horn factory. Workers regularly go insane with the loud and annoying horn noises. Ultimately, Ollie also has a nervous breakdown at work (in the film: "Hornophobia") and is sent home by the manager Mr. Sharp so that he can recover. Stan, who lives with Oliver in a high-rise apartment, supports him as a carer during his recovery phase, but as usual causes more chaos than helping. His doctor Dr. Finlayson, after a thorough examination, orders Ollie for complete rest, recommending goat milk and sea air, along with rest on the sea. At first, however, Ollie is reluctant to accept Finlayson's proposal. When Stan's trombone teacher Professor O'Brien walks into the skyscraper and Ollie, returning from an argument with a squinting plumber (who did a poor job because of his handicap), hears the music of Stan and his teacher, he decides to take his doctor's advice to accept. Ollie complains to the receptionist about how the trombone teacher got into the house, but Stan accidentally catapults him out of the window onto the street.
Since Ollie is afraid of the open sea, Stan rents an old unseaworthy boat, the Prickly Heat, from Captain McKenzie in the harbor . In the harbor, according to Stan's opinion, they can live on the boat and breathe sea air without actually going out to sea. It becomes dangerous when the escaped murderer Nick Grainger hides on the boat from the police and the boat unexpectedly breaks away from the harbor because the goat he brought with him bites through the rope with which the ship is moored. Nick threatens Stan and Ollie with his gun, which he calls "Nick Jr.", and forces them to cook him breakfast. But since there is no food on board, they try to make a synthetic spaghetti dish from soap, thread, red paint, a sponge and a lamp wick, with the beneficial side effect of being able to poison Nick. However, because the uninvited passenger noticed this by chance, the two had to consume the food themselves. Things only change for the better when Stan can play his trombone lying in the ship and Ollie, unleashed by his hornophobia, can knock Grainger down.
The port police finally arrest Nick Grainger, and Stan and Ollie be rewarded. When Stan plays the wind instrument again for joy, Ollie loses his temper and beats the captain of the port police. In the end, they are arrested together with the murderer.
background
Work on the script lasted from September to October 1939, after which filming began. It was her last film for Hal Roach Studios by producer Hal Roach , who Laurel and Hardy had put together as a comedian duo in 1927. From the mid-1930s onwards there were repeated arguments between Laurel and Roach about artistic influence. At the end of October 1939 had Laurel and Hardy together with Ben Shipman the Laurel & Hardy Feature Productions founded. The purpose of this was to have complete control over their productions. However, Laurel & Hardy Feature Productions never produced a film, and Laurel and Hardy got a contract with MGM instead . There, in contrast to their work at Hal Roach, they had almost no influence on their films, which, according to critics, became weaker.
The original title Saps at Sea parodies the title of the adventure film Souls at Sea (1937) with Gary Cooper and George Raft in the leading roles. A particularly tough scene for Laurel was the ending scene when the two of them have to eat the synthetic meal.
“I was fine until I started swallowing a piece of string. It was about two feet long and when I sucked it in my mouth it started tickling and then gagging. Before I was finished, I would have been glad if it had hanged me "
On the high seas , the last film for the well-known silent film comedian was Ben Turpin , who made a cameo as a cross-eyed plumber and died in July 1940. It was also the last film for the regular Laurel and Hardy supporting actor Harry Bernard , who played the captain of the harbor police at the end of the film, he died in November 1940. In addition, Laurel and Hardy left popular supporting actors when they left Hal Roach like James Finlayson and Charlie Hall , who will make their final appearances in a Laurel and Hardy film here.
reception
Winston Churchill saw the film on HMS Prince of Wales, 53 , while traveling to attend a meeting for the Atlantic Charter . He called the movie "fun but inconsequential entertainment" and counted it among his favorite films.
synchronization
- A dubbed version with Arno Assmann as Stan and Werner Lieven as Ollie was made for the cinema release in German-speaking countries under the title Aufhoch See in 1949 . Kurt Hinz and Isolde Lange-Frohloff were responsible for the dialogue book; the director took Conrad von Molo . This was used when the colored version of the film was broadcast on January 26, 1992 on Sat.1 .
- A second version was created in 1972 by Beta Technik under the title Always when he heard the horn . Heinz Caloue based the new dialogue book on the texts of the first version and also directed it. Hanns Dieter Hüsch gave introductory and introductory comments. Stan was spoken by Walter Bluhm and Ollie by Bruno W. Pantel .
- In 1975 the ZDF decided to broadcast all of the feature films in the Lachen Sie mit Stan and Ollie series and to Germanize the films again for the occasion. Stan was spoken here by his usual German voice, Walter Bluhm, while Ollie was spoken by Michael Habeck . Wolfgang Schick was responsible for the script and dialogue ; the music was by Fred Strittmatter and Quirin Amper Jr.
Web links
- Laurel and Hardy: On the high seas in theInternet Movie Database(English)
- Laurel and Hardy: On the high seas in the German dubbing file , 1st version
- Laurel and Hardy: On the high seas in the German dubbing index , 2nd version
- Laurel and Hardy: On the high seas in the German dubbing file , 3rd version