Overlooked Classics: Ladrones (1930)

 

During the 1930's, before dubbing became popular, many American films were shot in multiple versions each in a different language, so they could be shown world wide. Most of the time these films while using the same script and sets used different actors. However this naturally couldn't be done with Laurel and Hardy films, which needed... well Laurel and Hardy. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy would read the foreign words off of a blackboard just off screen. Often times these films would feature different actors as the supporting cast. However this film featured Edgar Kennedy and James Finlayson as part their supporting cast, the same used in the English original (though Anders Randolf, (the police chief in the original) was replaced here by Enrique Acosta) . What is fascinating however is that these foreign language versions would often times be longer than the original films. Night Owls was a 21 minute film, but this Spanish language version run 36 minutes.

The film begins with an officer (played by Edgar Kennedy) being told he must stop at least one burglary to save his job. After hearing this he convinces Stan and Ollie (played by Laurel and Hardy of course) to rob the Chief's (played by Enrique Acosta) house. However the officer gets knocked out and the chief and his butler Juan (played by Jimmy Finlayson) are wide awake.

Now the ending here is actually very different from the ending in the original (skip this paragraph if you don't want spoilers). In the original the boys escape and the officer gets arrested. Here many other cops come in and the boys thinking it will be their friend, are arrested by those cops. The officer comes in late and turns on Stan and Ollie. So all three are arrested. The boys riding in a convertible to jail grab onto a tree branch and think they have escape wind up in the chief's car. That car however winds up in a lake, Fin.

Also changed in this version is character names. In the original the officer was called officer Kennedy (after the actors name of course), here he receives no name, but is just called the policeman for the whole film. Also the butler in the original was called Meadows (now my mind is quoting a Chuck Jones cartoon), but in this film is called Jaun. Also this film features more jokes involving the boys getting inside the house.

This is an excellent film. It is very funny. The humor works just as well here as in the original and the new ending is better as well. Stan and Ollie's comedic skills are at the top of their game as is director James Parrott's (brother to Charlie Chase) and writer Leo McCarey (later to direct such classics as Duck Soup, Love Affair, The Awful Truth, Make Way For Tomorrow and The Bells of Saint Mary) and H.M. Walker. As may be excepted some of the line reading from Laurel and Hardy is a bit awkward, but never distractingly so and this is a film full of visual comedy, which features the boys at their best here. A must check out for all Laurel and Hardy fans.

-Michael J. Ruhland