Ritter ohne Furcht und Tadel (1937)

Ritter ohne Furcht und Tadel: Directed by James W. Horne. With Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Sharon Lynn, James Finlayson. Stanley and Ollie are enlisted to deliver the deed to a goldmine in a small village, only for it to be stolen.

“There are plenty of great comedies that are better-made, more innovative, and more artistically satisfying than u0026quot;Way Out West,u0026quot; but pound for pound this one has made me laugh the most over the years, repeatedly and consistently. Great clowns like Chaplin and Keaton made themselves into Everyman underdogs; the Marxes and Fields were wise-acre anarchists; but Laurel and Hardy were, simply, overgrown children: exactly as innocent and cunning and kind-hearted and selfish and sincere as big kids in suits. They lacked the malice which underlay Abbot u0026amp; Costello or the Three Stooges. When they warred with each other or outside parties they did so from an honest sense of being wronged, which then escalated to ridiculous and dangerous heights, all with exquisite timing. Their bouts of exasperation never lasted long; as they soon as they finished stomping on each otheru0026#39;s hats and twisting each otheru0026#39;s noses they would go back to the unquestioning comradeship of two school-kids who stick together for no other reason than that they always have and always will.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eu0026quot;Way Out Westu0026quot; is probably their best feature film, thanks to decent production values, a fun use of the period setting, a solid supporting cast, and a great mix of visual and verbal jokes. A river hides a pothole that materializes only for Oliver Hardy; a femme fatale wrests a deed to a gold mine from a helpless Stan Laurel by a dastardly bout of tickling (few things in movies are funnier than Stan Laurel laughing); the duo perform a gracefully silly soft- shoe dance; a thumb proves mysteriously flammable and a hat becomes briefly edible; Ollieu0026#39;s neck stretches out at least four feet before snapping back. Death is discussed: u0026quot;Tell me, what did my father die of?u0026quot; Stan, ever-helpful, replies: u0026quot;I think he died of a Tuesday. Or was it a Wednesday?u0026quot; Songs are sung, first by Ollie, in his melodious tenor, then joined by a startlingly basso Stan. (A bop on the head changes him to a ladylike soprano.) James Finlayson makes wild puffs and snorts of disgust at the camera. And Stanu0026#39;s exposed leg stops a speeding stagecoach with as much ease as Claudette Colbertu0026#39;s stopped a truck in u0026quot;It Happened One Night.u0026quot; And Ollie, beaming, and giggling and twiddling his tie to perfection, flirts with a highly disinterested lady by using the immortal line: u0026quot;A lot of weather weu0026#39;ve been having lately.u0026quot; Itu0026#39;s all sheer bliss, a great movie comedy.”