Our Relations
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| Our Relations | |
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 Theatrical release poster |
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| Directed by | Harry Lachman |
| Produced by | Stan Laurel Hal Roach |
| Written by | Felix Adler Richard Connell |
| Starring | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy |
| Music by | Leroy Shield |
| Cinematography | Rudolph Maté |
| Editing by | Bert Jordan |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
| Release date(s) | October 30, 1936 |
| Running time | 73 min. |
| Language | English |
Our Relations is a 1936 feature film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, produced by Laurel for Hal Roach Studios.
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[edit] Plot
Laurel and Hardy star as both their famous Stan and Ollie characters and as Stan and Ollie's twin brothers Bert and Alf. The duo had previously made two other dual role films-Twice Two (in which they also played Stan and Ollie's wives) and Brats (in which they also played Stan and Ollie's children).
In the film — when their wives go to the police station —, we learn that the characters Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy belong to a Masonic Lodge.
[edit] Cast
Stan Laurel
Oliver Hardy
Alan Hale
Sidney Toler
Daphne Pollard
Betty Healy
Jimmy Finlayson
Iris Adrian
Lona Andre
Ralf Harolde
Noel Madison
Arthur Housman
[edit] Production
In most of the Laurel and Hardy films, their usual Stan and Ollie characters are a pair of hopeless dimwits, often just barely able to earn a living. In Our Relations, Stan and Ollie are respectable citizens with wives and steady employment. It is their sea-faring twin brothers, Alf Laurel and Bert Hardy, who are dim-witted incompetents. Alf and Bert are sailors aboard the S.S Periwinkle.
On board, Alf and Bert wear seafaring garb. Once ashore, they dress in "civilian" clothes—down to the traditional derbies—making them nearly indistinguishable from their brothers. However, there's a foolproof clue in the neckties: Stan always wore a bow-tie, while Oliver wore the more conventional type. This is reversed for the brothers, with Alf wearing the usual style and Bert wearing the bowtie. For audience members who don't pick up on that, there are also music cues: Laurel & Hardy's theme song, Dance of the Cuckoos, for "the boys," and Sailor's Hornpipe for their twin brother-sailors.
The film is distinguished by the camera work of successful dramatic cinematographer Rudolph Maté (The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)). As the film concerns two pairs of Laurels and Hardies, several process/matte shots featuring all four of Laurel and Hardy's characters are used.
The film was based upon the story The Money Box by W.W. Jacobs. The story was adapted by Jack Jevne and Charley Rogers and the film written by Felix Adler and Richard Connell.
[edit] Legacy
In 2000, the Dutch revivalist orchestra The Beau Hunks collaborated with the Metropole Orchestra to re-create composer Leroy Shield's soundtrack to Our Relations from original sheet music that had been discovered in a Los Angeles archive in 1994 and 1995.
[edit] External links
- Our Relations at the Internet Movie Database
- Our Relations at Rotten Tomatoes
- The Money Box Text of the short story which was the basis for the film.
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