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Laurel & Hardy: Lucky Dog [VHS]

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I have never seen a silent Laurel and Hardy flick until this one which believed to be their first as it was released in 1919. In their "talkies", Laurel & Hardy are on team but in this one they work against each other. Laurel, the homeless man with someone's else's woman going after him and Hardy the robber who finds himself getting involed in Laurel's little love scheme. With the music fitting each changing scene and the title cards, this 25 minute flick is worth buying.

The Lucky Dog is really a Stan Laurel film. Ollie was just a supporting character in the film. But it is believed that this is
the first time they were together in the same film.
It`s not a great comedy, but there are plenty of laughs in it. And well worth seeing just to contrast how much Stan and Ollie
evolved their characters between 1919 and the late 1920s.

I won't go into an elaborate review about "The Lucky Dog" (1920) since a reviewer thankfully did that!

As most classic film lovers know, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy worked together in this film for the very first time. They do not work as a pair. We've all seen the famous clip in silent comedy documentaries, and the still images of this scene: Oliver as a robber robs Stan at gunpoint. The puzzled Stan counts the money he has just discovered in his back pocket. Oliver put it there after robbing a previous victim, when Stan happened by with the cute stray dog who likes him. I won't give it away, but Stan and Oliver share another scene later in the film.

Stan Laurel, in this early period of his career, was trying to find a particular persona for his screen character. Oliver Hardy worked in supporting roles, often playing the 'heavy' or bad guy. After this film was made, both men went their separate ways. Neither man had any idea that seven years later, Destiny would have both of them working at the Hal Roach Studios. Laurel and Hardy were put to work onscreen together, again, in a few Roach comedies. Film audiences responded positively to their onscreen antics and chaos. There existed a comic chemistry between the tall, slender Briton and the tall, plump Southern gentleman. It was from that point Hal Roach and Leo McCarey decided to keep both men as a team - from the silent era, into the sound era.

Laurel and Hardy's working together by chance in "The Lucky Dog" was a unique coincidence. It's as if these two men were destined to be partners from the very start. In time, both comics became close as brothers; and would remain close right up until their deaths (Hardy in 1959; Laurel in 1965).

Even to this day, Laurel and Hardy are the most-loved comedy team the world has ever known. This past August, Turner Classic Movie fans were happy when an entire Saturday was dedicated to a showing of Laurel and Hardy comedies. Thanks to that Saturday, my interest in them got renewed! Laurel and Hardy are long gone. Yet fans can't get enough of them!

This videotape of "The Lucky Dog", by far, is the complete film. Get it for your personal Laurel and Hardy collection if you haven't done so, yet. The film is amusing and pleasant. And, importantly, witness the chance meeting of two comic actors who would go on to become the greatest screen comedy team of all time. This film is a keeper. I'm keeping mine, for sure! (Heh-heh!)

Anyway: Just grab it!

For a very long time this two-reeler existed only in fragmentary form. Only recently has it become available in most of its entirety. The date has also long been in dispute; historically it's viewed as being from 1917 because of the reference to dynamite as "Bolsheviki candy," but it was probably more like 1919, due to the joke about the war debt. And it also wasn't released for quite some time, which adds to the doubt as to its true date of production. What remains is a quite entertaining comedy, and the first known teaming of Stan and Ollie, in their earliest pre-teaming short. Who could have ever guessed from viewing this short that in about ten years they'd become such a beloved comedy team and closer than brothers offscreen as well? They also look so young, being in their twenties when this was made, and look so different from the way most people are familiar with them.

Stan has gotten kicked out of his boardinghouse by a hard-hearted landlady because he's way behind on his rent, and while he's sitting in the middle of the road, a bit dazed from the beating the landlady gave him, he sees angels dancing around him. He fantasises he's making out with one of them and comes to himself as he's hugging a cute little dog who has wandered up to him. Try as he might, Stan just can't ditch the dog. Along the way he bumps into a tough surly holdup man (Ollie), who sticks him up and tries to rob him. However, Stan grabs his money back and escapes, having earned a new enemy. He then tries to get rid of the dog once more, this time by putting it in a garbage can, but is caught by a cop and ordered to put a leash on the dog and to put all of the trash back where it belongs. He also runs into a woman he met earlier, a woman who is entering her dog in a barking contest. Stan himself is urged by her to enter his own dog, but since the dog isn't a thoroughbred, he is barred by the woman's boyfriend from entering. In the process of trying to sneak in, he lets all of the other dogs escape. To make matters worse, the woman decides to jilt her current beau for Stan, and takes him and his dog home with her. Furious, her ex tracks down Ollie and they make a deal to get revenge. The two of them go to the woman's mansion, where Stan and his furry friend are making a fine impression with the girl's father, and attempt to kidnap her, kill Stan, and blow the house down. However, through his own idiocy, Stan bumbles him way into taking control of the gun and scaring Ollie away by accidentally shooting at him, and the little lucky dog picks up the dynamite in its mouth and runs outside after the bad guys. A happy ending results after the dog saves the day.

Stan's solo work is kinda hit and miss, since he didn't really have a set screen character yet and was more or less just another comedian doing an average job, nothing really distinct that would set him apart from the countless other comedic hopefuls of the era. However, I feel that this is one of his best and strongest solo comedies, because it's well-written, with a solid strong plot, great gags, and best of all, he's playing a character quite similar to the one we know and love.