Laurel and Hardy: The Sons of the Desert

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title The sons of the desert
Original title Sons of the Desert
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1933
length 65 (VHS: 68) minutes
Age rating FSK 6
Rod
Director William A. Seiter
script Frank Craven ,
Byron Morgan ,
Glenn Tryon
production Hal Roach
music Marvin Hatley
camera Kenneth Peach
cut Bert Jordan
occupation
synchronization

Sons of the Desert is a 1933 American comedy film with comedian duo Laurel and Hardy in the lead roles. The film was shot in 1933 and had its world premiere on December 29, 1933, in Germany it opened in cinemas on October 26, 1934.

The film also ran under the alternative title Fraternally Yours in the US . In German cinema and television he got the alternative titles Dick and Doof - Die Wüstensöhne , Die Wüstensöhne or Help, we drowned , in Austria also adventure in Honolulu . The film was also shown on German television as the Infame Liar .

action

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are members of the Masonic Lodge Die Wüstensöhne (English: "Sons of the Desert", the club is a reference to the Shriners ). At a club meeting they undertake under a strict oath to attend the annual meeting of the Lodge in Chicago . Both have to prevail against their wives, however: Stan's wife is a passionate hunter, Oliver's wife is a contentious domestic kite who likes to throw plates and vases around when angry attacks. While Stan's wife agrees, Mrs. Hardy refuses. Therefore devise Stan and Ollie a ruse: A (which is a mistake by Stan recruited doctor veterinarian is), Ollie certifies a Doppeldackeldelirium (orig. Double Canus Delirious ) and prescribed him a voyage to Honolulu . Since Ollie's wife, who is prone to seasickness, cannot accompany him and had actually planned a mountain hike with him, Stan offers to accompany Ollie. In fact, the two of course go to the annual meeting in Chicago, while their wives think they are in Hawaii .

A fez of the Lodge Sons of the Desert / Die Wüstensöhne

At the annual meeting, the song "Honolulu Baby" is sung, and Stan and Ollie meet party guest Charley, who says that a sister of his also lives in Los Angeles. Charley calls the nurse with the two of them, but Ollie hangs up in dismay when she turns out to be Mrs. Hardy. In the meantime, news reaches the two wives that the ship that Stan and Ollie were supposed to use to return from Hawaii has sunk. When they get home from Chicago, the worried wives are in the cinema watching the newsreel . There a report about the Chicago meeting is shown, in which Stan and Ollie happily wave at the camera. The wives find out they have been lied to and start a contest to see who has the better husband - the husband who will be the first to tell the truth.

Stan and Ollie hide in the attic, but the wives hear them and also go to the attic. The two flee in pajamas in the pouring rain on the roof, where they are discovered by a patrol officer. When they finally end up in the house with their wives, they find it difficult to explain and get caught up in absurd excuses. They claim they have it by ship anhalter (original Ship-Hiking managed) to come back before the rescue ships. After all, while Ollie claims to be telling the truth, Stan doesn't stand up to the story of lies. He is royally rewarded for this by his wife, as she has won the bet with the girlfriend. On the other hand, Ollie, who remains in the lie, feels the revenge of his wife and is pelted with dishes by her.

backgrounds

A similar story, which became the basis for this film, was portrayed by Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in their 1928 short film Laurel and Hardy: In the Swirl of the Gutter , directed by Leo McCarey . In this case, they pretended to have attended a theater, but it burned down that evening. The motif of the slippery heroes ruled by matriarchal and Xanthippic wives, who try to evade the anger of their wives with lies and excuses, can be found in many of the duo's films.

Ty Parvis sings the song Honolulu Baby , written by Marvin Hatley , in the Chicago pub . Hatley also wrote the song We Are The Sons of Desert for the film. The song Auld Lang Syne , which is very famous in English-speaking countries , is also sung in the opening scene at the gathering.

The party guest, who turns out to be Ollie's brother-in-law, is a cameo of Charley Chase , a slapstick comedian who was also very popular at the time and who was seen in various short films by Hal Roach. In the same year, Laurel and Hardy also made a guest appearance in Chase's comedy On the Wrong Trek to compensate .

German versions

  • The film was first published in the German Reich in 1934 under the title Dick and Doof - The "Wüsten" Sons . However, this version is lost and the voice actors at the time are no longer known. This version was created in the MGM dubbing department, the book was written by Siegfried Schmidt and Paul Mochmann. It is one of the first synchronizations of a Laurel and Hardy film.
  • Help, we drowned (in Austria: Honolulu Baby ) is the title of the second dubbed version that was produced by Thurnau-Film in West Berlin in 1950 . The book was written by Erwin Bootz , who also dubbed Stan Laurel. Alfred Haase spoke to Oliver Hardy and Georg Thomalla was hired as Charley. This version was premiered on December 22, 1950.
  • The third version, entitled Die Wüstensöhne , was created by Berliner Synchron in 1965 and was shown for the first time on November 26, 1965. Werner Schwier wrote the dialogues. With Walter Bluhm and Arno Paulsen for Stan and Ollie, the most famous voices to date were hired for their synchronization. Ingeborg Wellmann also speaks the role of Mrs. Hardy and Ruth Scheerbarth as Mrs. Laurel and Gerd Martienzen Charley.
  • In 1975 the film was re-edited under the title Wüstensöhne for the ZDF program Lachen Sie mit Stan and Ollie ; Walter Bluhm spoke again for Stan and Michael Habeck for Ollie . Charley was spoken by Horst Gentzen . The version was created at Beta-Technik in Munich; The dialogue book and dialogue direction were in the hands of Wolfgang Schick. Theo Lingen gave a short introduction.

reception

The Sons of the Desert received mostly positive reviews and is now seen as one of the best feature films by Laurel and Hardy. The American filmmaker William K. Everson wrote: “Sons of the Desert ... is ... a thoroughly fresh and enjoyable comedy and certainly the best and most subtle of their feature films. The comedy is mainly developed from situations and characters, the pure slapstick is limited to individual gags ... The story is basically very thin, but Seiter makes the most of every gag without milking a single one unduly. ”The lexicon of the international film was also positive: "A turbulent grotesque film with remarkable gags and an abundance of delicious ideas that the comedian duo knows how to unleash inventive."

The American Film Institute ranked the film 96th on its list of the Best 100 American Comedy Films. It is the only Laurel and Hardy film on that list. The sentence “Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!” Also made it into a list of the American Film Institute in 2005, namely at number 60 in the best american movie quotes ever. In 2012 the film was entered into the National Film Registry .

The world's largest Laurel and Hardy fan organization, Sons of the Desert , was founded in 1964 and named itself after the film and, like the lodge in the film, is organized in the style of a Masonic lodge with worldwide branches.

Literature and Sources

  • Rainer Dick: Laurel and Hardy: The greatest comedians of all time. Heyne, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-453-09006-3 .
  • William K. Everson: Laurel and Hardy and Their Films. Ed. Joe Hembus. Goldmann, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-442-10204-9 .
  • Norbert Aping: The Dick and Doof Book. The story of Laurel and Hardy in Germany. Schüren, 2004, ISBN 3-89472-356-4 . Digital attachments 15 ( overview of Laurel and Hardy's German speakers )

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Norbert Aping: Das kleine Dick-und-Doof-Buch Schüren, Marburg 2014, appendix pp. 363–367.
  2. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from August 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Synchronous database @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.synchrondatenbank.de
  3. ^ William K. Everson
  4. ↑ Laurel and Hardy: The Sons of the Desert. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 24, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  5. ↑ American Film Institute: AFI's 100 Years ... 100 Laughs. Accessed August 31, 2018 .