61: Sons of the Desert

            It’s an old theatre adage that comedy is harder than drama to perform but easier to gage the reaction to.  If the audience isn’t laughing, you’re not doing it right.  I suppose that one of the supporting factors of this belief is that what is dramatic about the human condition rarely changes, while what is humorous about life often changes rapidly.  What’s funny one day is dull the next – we’ve already heard the joke.  The same thing can be true when it comes to the movies.  What was funny one year is boring and old hat by the following season’s releases. 

There are occasional films that avoid this trend, some of which have survived significant lengths of time.  I cannot imagine not cracking a smile at the sight of Chaplin’s Tramp, and the thought of not laughing at Some Like it Hot (1960) is about as ridiculous to me as Jack Lemmon’s makeup.  Most motion pictures fade from memory rather quickly in the scope of things, but the ones that get remembered tend more often to be dramatic rather than comedic.  Only fifteen of the AFI top 100 are comedies.  Still, if you ask most people what their favorite movie is, you’re likely to hear a comedic title thrown back at you and perhaps a claim that it is “the funniest movie ever.”

            People love comedies and always have, and at one point the work of comedic duo Laurel and Hardy rivaled that of Chaplin in popularity.  When I sat down to view their Sons of the Desert (1933; dir. William A. Seiter) I was looking to be entertained yes, but I was also looking for evidence that in some way they did rival the great artist.  I realized rather early that the bar was set far too high.

            When Stan and Ollie want to attend the annual Sons of the Desert Lodge convention in Chicago they have to cook up some whoppers to get their wives to let them leave the house.  Oliver claims to be suffering from a nervous breakdown and arranges for Stan to have a “doctor” prescribe a cruise to Hawaii.  He knows his wife would never travel by boat and that she’ll ask Stan to accompany him.  Then it’s off to Chicago for the convention.  They need only to pick up a few props to convince their wives that they’ve been to Honolulu.  Of course things go wrong with the deception before, during, and after the convention, but the boys are able to keep up the lies until the ship they were to be returning from the islands on sinks.

            The fun only really picks up in the film’s second half after the girls get wise.  Stan and Ollie put themselves through hell, and quite a few pratfalls, just to keep up appearances, and their wives allow them to suffer through it.  Yes, this is a fun movie, but by going in expecting brilliance I’d done an injustice to an otherwise enjoyable film.  There is a tendency in life to gravitate only to those things of the past that have been proclaimed great.  Most of us do this.  On the other hand, listing 1001 films means that some middle of the road pictures, as well as some stinkers made the cut.  It’s not that Sons of the Desert isn’t funny.  It is.  But it isn’t endearing unmistakable genius in the way that Keaton and Chaplin pictures certainly are.  It makes the list on its own merits I’m sure, but I can’t help but feeling that it’s padding; juxtaposition for the truly great movies.

Language: English

Runtime: 68 Minutes

Grade: 2.5 Hats Off