LOVE COMES: MR. HARDY IS AT LAST CONSCIOUS OF THE GRAND
PASSION -- MR. LAUREL ISN'T EVEN CONSCIOUS OF THE GRAND CANYON.
We return to early days, the year 1931 to be specific, for
another look at a film from comedy legends Laurel & Hardy. As you may (or
may not remember), the only time we’ve looked at a film from this pairing
before, Be Big!, turned out to be something of a damp squib… in my opinion.
Timing was off, ideas were short, and laughs were, as a result, thin on the
ground. Well, today’s venture sees us looking over a film the pair produced in
the same period/year, still working under contract with Hal Roach. Fortunately,
there seems to be a bit more potential in the set-up for this one. This is Beau
Hunks (also known as Beau Chumps).
Ollie (Oliver Hardy) is in love, smitten, all aflutter with
feelings of amore. He informs his friend Stanley (Stan Laurel) of his plans to
be married to his sweetheart, Jeanie Weenie. However, within minutes of this
announcement, he receives a letter informing him that the relationship is over.
Heartbroken and disillusioned, Ollie decides to join the French Foreign Legion to
forget his heartbreak, and he’s bringing Stanley with him. Once there, though,
in the harsh arid heat of the desert, the pair very quickly find themselves in
over their heads.
There should be an immediate moment of recognition with this
film for anyone who is familiar with Laurel & Hardy, even if they’ve never
seen any of their films. There are effectively three (arguably four) images of
the comedic duo that have become somewhat iconic for them. One is them in their
classic garb of suits and bowler hats; one is them dressed in police uniforms;
and the third is Ollie & Stan dressed as a pair of soldiers in the Foreign
Legion (in case you’re wondering, the fourth would be them as hobos). You’d
certainly think that the film that presented the world with this image would be
worth the watch, and not just some kind of excuse to put them in a funny
costume. Well, it was, but that can work out quite well sometimes.
And fortunately enough, it worked. Beau Hunks is a solid outing from the pair, with a good pace, good gags and a pretty good story
that runs through the whole to keep things moving. Sure, perhaps some may
consider it a bit of a leap that a guy would go off to an inhospitable foreign
land to serve out the rest of his days as a soldier for an army he can’t leave
all because he was so heartbroken… but then it’s not really too much of a leap
given the context. Hollywood movies relied on the idea of the French Foreign
Legion being populated by men of desperation, the troubled ones, the wronged
ones, and they made a great use of it. This is kind of a spill-over from literature, predominantly the novel Beau Geste, where
this film gets its title. Besides, even if you do find it somewhat difficult,
it’s a Laurel & Hardy comedy from the early 1930s, which puts it not too
far above a Bugs Bunny cartoon. We can give them some leeway for shenanigans.
And the set-up is handled very well, and gives them some
pretty good gags. Even moments separate from the plotting are a fine trove of
visual gags, callbacks and physical gaffs, which come off much better here than
they did in Be Big! because they don’t feel like they’ve been stretched out
past breaking point. The opening few minutes of this film has a much better hit
ratio. Aside from showing off Ollie’s actually rather sweet singing voice as he
serenades (from afar) his loved one, Jeanie, Stan accidentally cuts a square of
fabric out of the seat of armchair, and tries to cover it up. After Ollie
finishes his song and confesses his intentions to marry, Stan says he doesn’t
believe him, asking who would marry Ollie. His answer, “A woman, of course.
Have you ever heard of someone marrying a man?” Stan says he has. A little
surprised, Ollie asks who. Without missing a beat, Stan replies, “My
sister.” Classic.
Once the pair arrive at the fort of the Foreign Legion,
things start to get under way. Stan flubs the roll call, they both get on the
wrong side of the commanding officer (who they constantly refer to as a
different rank every time they address him), and Ollie discovers a truth about
his beloved Jeanie Weenie. From the beginning, Ollie has clutched a picture of
his true love close to his heart, and it’s only in this picture that we ever
see her… it’s an autographed picture of Jean Harlow. When they arrive at the
barracks, whilst Ollie looks forlornly at her image, Stan looks around the
other new recruits, and every one of them is also tearfully clutching an
autographed picture of Jean Harlow. So, it turns out that Ollie has perhaps had
nothing more than an unrequited crush on a beautiful movie star, literally just
like everyone else. That he received a letter from her breaking off their
relationship seems to be neither here nor there, since, it would seem, so did
every other guy. This theme then becomes one of the better running gags of the
film.
The direction of Beau Hunks actually feels stronger, more
visually coherent thanks to director James W. Horne (on viewing this, we would have to surmise that Parrott was the one
responsible for the directorial flatness on Be Big!). The first time we find ourselves introduced to the communal
sleeping quarters of the new recruits, we see it through an extended rifle
rack, presenting an apparent image of these men being behind bars…
made of guns. That’s a pretty strong and striking image of the world our pair
now find themselves in, where these men are now effectively trapped in a life
of military servitude from which there is no escape. When you think about it,
that’s kind of a harsh image to put in a Laurel & Hardy comedy. Later, as
the troop are marching in the desert, on their way to their first real
assignment, we get what is basically handheld camerawork, with the camera
bobbing and shaking in front of out intrepid duo, marching along with them and
heightening the difficulty of their effort. And this was in 1931, before the
camera advances that came from World War II news reporting made such manoeuvres
less cumbersome. Visually, Beau Hunks is a kind of a treat.
There may be some issue with Beau Hunks as concerns the
depiction of Arabs in the film, being that they are the villains of the piece,
all barefoot and Allah-praising. That said, I’m not entirely sure how much of a
problem it really is. They aren’t actually as hideously stereotyped as they
could have been, certainly when considering the time period of the film. Nor
are they overly evil, or regarded as any kind of godless heathens or savages.
They are painted pretty broadly as simple bad guys for our heroes to fight. Bad guys that would, given
the temporal and geographical setting, would make sense to use. It’s probably
not good that they would have been just straight up used as the bad guys, nor
is it necessarily the best defence to say that they aren’t as badly portrayed
as they could have been, but they aren’t really demonised, either. It’s perhaps
just a point of note.
Again, speaking from a personal perspective, there are some
moments where I think a couple of jokes go on a bit long, the one that springs
instantly to mind is when Stan gets his rifle caught in Ollie’s belt and can’t
get it loose. However, that’s kind of just getting picky at this point. Plus,
that’s just my own personal taste.
Beau Hunks is a good and worthy use of the comedic talents
of Laurel & Hardy, showcasing some of their best skills in a variety of
comedy disciplines, not to mention being a fine show for the acting and singing
talents of Oliver Hardy. On top of that, it offers some surprisingly
deft use of camerawork and visual metaphor that you wouldn’t necessarily equate
with this kind of picture, particularly for its time, thanks to Horne. Beau Hunks may in fact be
the longest Laurel & Hardy film, but it’s certainly up there with their
best.
Excellent. Good to find the guys back in a good place for
me.
