We all know and love Laurel and Hardy. Their short films are icons of the period, brimming in slapstick, absurd humour. Though what happened when they made their last feature film together?
Whilst the 2018 film Stan and Ollie exposed the comedians friendship, pushed to breaking point, Atoll K is a bizarre film by anyones standards. This being their final feature, it was in constant trouble when being made and its shows in the final product. We see the duo inherit a boat and discover a new island. With a motley crew of a captain, a castaway and a singer, they soon form their own country. There are some pretty funny moments. The Hardy making a sandwich out of Laurel's hand is centrally one of the finest moments of comedy in this weird film, the smashing of plates right after is what makes this a moment special. The castaway stealing food during a meal scene aboard is another highlight.
Sat in the audience, I observed some scenes got little to no laughter. The random moment we discover their dog on the island is a lobster and Hardy's many bops to the head run out of steam pretty fast. Some other times we all appeared to near roar with laughter. The fuss made over its productions mars the film with terrible dubbing of the French and Italian actors who make up a sizeable part of the film. There are nods to island capers like Robinson Crusoe, though plenty is being said about politics as well. The taxes/duties this newly formed country is expected to pay makes a good point about what makes up a government and also a society.
Suzy Delair (still alive at the age of 101) makes a great vamp, Chérie Lamour, who shines in some moments. Though the dubbing is perhaps most cruel here during her songs, to pander to English speaking audiences. Its also too long (four different versions of the film are at various lengths) and would have fared better as a shorter feature. You can just feel the uncertainty of the film due to its awful creation. You know this to be true when the film also went by Utopia and Robinson Crusoeland, a marker indicating the uncertainties of the production which lied within.
Whilst the 2018 film Stan and Ollie exposed the comedians friendship, pushed to breaking point, Atoll K is a bizarre film by anyones standards. This being their final feature, it was in constant trouble when being made and its shows in the final product. We see the duo inherit a boat and discover a new island. With a motley crew of a captain, a castaway and a singer, they soon form their own country. There are some pretty funny moments. The Hardy making a sandwich out of Laurel's hand is centrally one of the finest moments of comedy in this weird film, the smashing of plates right after is what makes this a moment special. The castaway stealing food during a meal scene aboard is another highlight.
Sat in the audience, I observed some scenes got little to no laughter. The random moment we discover their dog on the island is a lobster and Hardy's many bops to the head run out of steam pretty fast. Some other times we all appeared to near roar with laughter. The fuss made over its productions mars the film with terrible dubbing of the French and Italian actors who make up a sizeable part of the film. There are nods to island capers like Robinson Crusoe, though plenty is being said about politics as well. The taxes/duties this newly formed country is expected to pay makes a good point about what makes up a government and also a society.
Suzy Delair (still alive at the age of 101) makes a great vamp, Chérie Lamour, who shines in some moments. Though the dubbing is perhaps most cruel here during her songs, to pander to English speaking audiences. Its also too long (four different versions of the film are at various lengths) and would have fared better as a shorter feature. You can just feel the uncertainty of the film due to its awful creation. You know this to be true when the film also went by Utopia and Robinson Crusoeland, a marker indicating the uncertainties of the production which lied within.