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Utopia: In their very last feature film, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy travel to London so that Stan can claim his uncles inheritance. All of the cash has been eaten up by taxes, but at least Stan is able to claim a tax-free island and yacht that his uncle has left him. Boarding the yacht (actually a run-down tub) in Marseilles, Stan and Ollie set sail for their island in the company of stateless refugee Max Elloy, who signs on as a cook, and Italian bricklayer Adriano Rimoldi, a stowaway. The little party is nearly torn to bits by a storm at sea, but the yacht runs safely aground on a newly formed atoll. Its population is increased to five when nightclub singer Suzy Delair, fleeing her domineering naval-officer fianc� Luigi Tosi, takes refuge with the other castaways. Laurel Hardy and their friends live an idyllic, Robinson Crusoe-like existence until Delairs fianc� shows up. He announces he hasnt come to claim her, but to investigate reports that the atoll is rich with uranium. Indeed it is, and soon every nation in the world is clamoring to claim the islands radioactive deposits. Laurel and Hardy take quick action, declaring sovereignty over Crusoeland. They then devise an anarchic government over which Ollie presides. Stan is relegated to the position of The People. Comical chaos reigns when their no laws, no taxes policies attract the attention of various unsavory types, including rabble-rouser Michael Dalmatoff. Filmed over a period of 12 months, this expensive Franco-Italian co-production suffers from a too-complex plot, lazy direction, poor voice-over dubbing of the largely European supporting cast, and especially the horrible physical condition of Laurel, who was suffering from several life-threatening illnesses during filming. Fortunately, he regained his health after the production wrapped, as proven by his hale-and-hearty appearance on a 1954 installment of TVs This Is Your Life. Though some disciples of Laurel and Hardy will have a great deal of difficulty sitting through Atoll K, it does contain a few isolated moments of pantomimic brilliance and first-rate sight gags. Originally running 98 minutes, Atoll K was judiciously pruned down to 82 minutes for its English-language release. In Great Britain, the film was titled Robinson Crusoeland, while it was released as Utopia in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide The Flying Deuces: In their first starring feature away from the Hal Roach studios, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy play a couple of fish peddlers from Des Moines on a Cooks Tour of Paris. While stopping over at quaint suburban inn, Ollie falls in love with innkeepers daughter Georgette (Jean Parker). At Stans prodding, Ollie pops the question to Georgette, who gently refuses because there is Someone Else. Disconsolately, Ollie decides to commit suicide by jumping into the Seine, insisting that Stan join him in his plunge to oblivion. The boys are halted from this drastic action by the timely arrival of Francois (Reginald Gardiner), an officer in the French Foreign Legion. Francois convinces Stan and Ollie that theyll forget all about Ollies lost love if they join the Legion, and within a few days our heroes are in uniform at an outpost in French Morocco, where they are promptly assigned to laundry detail. Alas, try as he might, Ollie cant forget his beloved Georgette-until Stan suggests that he pretend to forget so that they can get back in their own clothes and head home. This Ollie does, but not before accidentally setting fire to a mountain of laundry. After leaving behind a rather nasty letter of resignation for their scowling commandant (Charles Middleton), Stan and Ollie pack their bags and head for the airport-where Ollie is reunited with Georgette, who turns out to be the wife of their commanding officer Francois! Sentenced to death for desertion, the boys tunnel their way out of their jail cell and hide out in an airplane, which Stan accidentally sends into flight. After a wild and noisy ride, the plane crashes, leading to the flms hilarious-and somehow touching--freak ending. Officially a remake of Les Aviateurs, a French vehicle for Fernandel and Toto, The Flying Deuces also owes a lot to the earlier Laurel Hardy Foreign Legion farce Beau Hunks. Highlights include Stan and Ollies impromptu soft-shoe rendition of Shine on Harvest Moon, and Stans lunatic excursion into Harpo Marx territory as he plays a bed-spring harp. Produced by Boris Morros and released by RKO Radio, Flying Deuces is unquestionably the best of Laurel Hardys non-Hal Roach vehicles. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide Babes in Toyland: March of the Wooden Soldiers is the 1952 reissue title for Hal Roachs 1934 film version of Victor Herberts Babes in Toyland. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy star as Stannie Dum and Ollie Dee, bumbling apprentices to the master toymaker of Toyland. This joyous fairy-tale community is populated by all the colorful Mother Goose characters we know and love; the one sour apple in the barrel is mean old Silas Barnaby (portrayed by Henry Kleinbach, aka Henry Brandon). Barnaby holds the mortgage on the outsized shoe where Widow Peep (Florence Roberts) and her daughter Little Bo Peep (Charlotte Henry) reside, and where Stannie and Ollie pay room and board. Bo Peep will be forced to marry the odious Barnaby if the rent isnt paid, so Stannie and Ollie try to raise the money by asking the toymaker for a raise. But the boys are fired when Stannie messes up an order from Santa Claus: instead of making six hundred toy soldiers one foot high, the dumb Mr. Dum makes one hundred toy soldiers six feet high. The wedding between Barnaby and Bo Peep goes on as planned--except that its Stannie, disguised as the bride, who ends up walking down the altar. Publicly humiliated, Barnaby vows revenge. He steals one of the Three Little Pigs and places the blame on Bo Peeps boy friend, Tom-Tom the Pipers Son (Felix Knight). The penalty for pignapping is banishment to Bogeyland, a fearsome subterranean world populated by hideous bogeymen (look closely and youll see the zippers on their costumes!) Stannie and Ollie expose Barnabys perfidy and rescue Tom-Tom from Bogeyland, whereupon Barnaby rallies the bogeymen and leads an all-out attack on Toyland. Taking refuge in the toy warehouse, Stannie and Ollie activate the 100 6-foot wooden soldiers (a neat bit of stop-motion photography, courtesy of Hal Roachs fx wizard Roy Seawright), who vanquish the Bogeymen and save the day. One of the best of all the Laurel and Hardy features, March of the Wooden Soldiers has been a television holiday perennial ever since the cathode tube was invented. Only a handful of Victor Herberts songs are utilized, but these lilting compositions more than compensate for the omissions (one song, I Cant Do That Sum, is used as the leitmotif for the clueless Stannie and Ollie). For years available only in the 70-minute reissue version, March of the Wooden Soldiers has recently been fully restored to its full glorious 78 minutes. The parent property Babes in Toyland was remade by Disney in 1961 (with Gene Sheldon and Henry Calvin as Laurel and Hardy wannabes) and for television in 1986, with new songs by Leslie Bricusse. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide Be Big!: While this isnt one of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardys best shorts, its premise is very similar to one of their finest features, Sons of the Desert. In both films, the hapless duo is trying to sneak around their wives backs to join a group of club mates. In Sons of the Desert, theyre going to a convention; in Be Big, its an evening in their honor. The boys have just agreed to go to Atlantic City with their spouses (Isabelle Keith and Anita Garvin), but one of the club men calls Ollie with such enticing details of the celebration that he just Ihas/I to attend...with Stan in tow, of course. With the help of some talcum powder, Ollie looks pale enough to convince the wives to leave on the trip without him and Stan. Then they hurriedly get into their club outfits, but trouble ensues when Ollie puts on Stanleys much smaller boots and cant get them off. The pairs various attempts to get the boots off Ollie all but destroy Ollies apartment -- and Ollie. The wives miss the train and return home to discover that theyve been tricked. Their panicked husbands try to hide in the folding bed, but the wives pull out their shotguns (a common prop for Laurel and Hardy wives) and start blasting away. Originally filmed in black white, a colorized version was released in the late 1990s. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide A Lucky Dog: In this two-reeler, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy appear together for the very first time. However, theyre a long way from their famous Laurel and Hardy characters (that pairing wasnt to come until 1927). Laurel, after an up-and-down career in Vaudeville, had just begun acting in films, while Hardy was heavily established in movies already (both literally and figuratively). Laurel is the lead in this film, nevertheless, as an unfortunate who, after being evicted, winds up befriending a stray dog. He stuffs the dog in a decrepit suitcase, but it sticks its legs through the bags holes and runs away. While Laurel is chasing after the suitcase, he bumps into a hold-up man (Hardy). A chase leaves the big man behind when he gets stuck trying to crawl through a hole in a fence. Hardy also appears later on in the film. Laurel and his dog have made the acquaintance of a pretty girl and her poodle, and her jealous boyfriend enlists Hardys help to get rid of Laurel. But the dog saves the day by chasing the villains off with a stick of dynamite that was originally meant for Laurel. There is some debate as to when this film was actually made; some Laurel and Hardy experts say 1917, while others claim it to be 1919. In any event, apparently Lucky Dog was not released in the U.S. until 1921. ~ Janiss Garza, All Movie Guide This is Your Life: Laurel and Hardy: Host Ralph G. Edwards surprised the famous comic team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy in this episode of his popular show, This Is Your Life. Many of Laurel and Hardys acquaintances from childhood and co-workers from their days at Hal Roach Studios appear and reminisce about their experiences working with the team. The most interesting thing about this episode, though, is that Oliver Hardy clearly does not recognize or remember several of the people he was supposed to have been close to (but graciously doesnt let these people know it), and it is obvious that Stan Laurel is not happy about the whole situation at all. ~ Brian Gusse, All Movie Guide