Customer Reviews

Laurel & Hardy:Our Wife [VHS]

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If I'm feeling "down" and want a huge laugh, or if I want to see expert comic timing and "takes" (I am a fulltime ventriloquist so I study these things!) I immediately take out my copy of Our Wife. The plot in this Laurel and Hardy is exceedingly (and misleadingly) simple: big man Ollie wants to marry his girlfriend, a woman of size, named Dulcy. Everything's seemingly OK until Dulcy hands her father a photo of Ollie. Her father, played by moustachioed L&H foil James Finlayson, takes a quick look at it, then a does a shocked double take and shouts: "NO! NO! EMPHATIC-CALLY NO!!" and forbids her to marry him. So the two big loverbirds decide to elope....with Stan Laurel's "help." Stan manages to screw up the elopement with a lot of slapstick -- and permanently cross-eyed comedian Ben Turpin makes a screamingly funny appearance at the end. I'm continually struck by Oliver Hardy's superb timing and slapstick mastery. In one scene suitcases have to be thrown down and land on his head. His timing and reactions are perfect (although you can see him flinch a split second in advance because he knows what's coming down on his head!). WORTH THE PRICE OF THIS VIDEO: Stan is asked to rent a car for the elopement and comes back with a car that can barely fit Oliver Hardy, let alone Ollie, Dulcy and Stan. I defy anyone to watch them try to get into the car without laughing.

All Laurel and Hardy videos are great especially from a historical point of view. Just look in the background of many of the outdoor scenes and see the things from the first half of the 20th Century; Houses, cars, street cars (the Red Cars), landscapes, buildings, etc. From the inside scenes you get an idea of the household furnishings, kitchen items, etc. These are great historical videos.