Laurel and Hardy’s Laughing 20’s **** (1965, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Charley Chase) – Classic Movie Review 7525

Writer-producer-director Robert Youngson’s Laurel and Hardy’s Laughing 20’s is a delectable feature film compilation of primarily Laurel and Hardy shorts, with some of Stan and Ollie’s finest scenes from the silent era.

There are delightful extracts from Putting Pants on Philip, The Finishing Touch, From Soup to Nuts, Wrong Again, Sugar Daddies and Liberty, as well as clips from other of producer Hal Roach shorts, including excellent sequences of Charley Chase, plus Max Davidson’s Call of the Cuckoo and Dumb Daddies. The final collage of Laurel and Hardy’s battle climaxes is wonderful.

The downside is the dispensable commentary by Jay Jackson and the inevitable abbreviated editing down of priceless sequences. Nevertheless, Laurel and Hardy’s Laughing 20’s is lovingly well done, with hilarious results.

Also among those appearing  in the archive footage are the vital and treasurable Vivien Oakland, Glen Tyron, Edna Murphy, Anita Garvin, Tiny Sanford, James Finlayson, Charley Chase, Viola Richard, Max Davidson, Dell Henderson, Josephine Crowell, Anders Randolf, Edgar Kennedy, Dorothy Coburn, Lillian Elliott and ‘Spec’ O’Donnell.

Youngson’s feature film compilations The Golden Age of Comedy (1957), When Comedy Was King, Days of Thrills and Laughter, and Laurel and Hardy’s Laughing 20’s did the immense service of reviving interest in the Laurel and Hardy shorts.

© Derek Winnert 2018 Classic Movie Review 7525

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com