Laurel and Hardy had been popular overseas since they started working as a team. In interest of keeping this popularity in countries that did not speak English, producer Hal Roach suggested that some Laurel and Hardy films would be made in multiple languages. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy would read the foreign lines phonetically off cue cards. In the audio commentary for
Hog Wild Historian Richard W. Bann stated that for that film all three versions (English, Spanish and French) were shot simultaneously. For this film, each scene would be shot at least three times, before shooting the next scene. Interestingly these foreign language films were different in more ways than just what language the actors were speaking. Often scenes would be added for these films and sometimes multiple shorts would be put together to make one film. This sometimes would make English language shorts into foreign language features. Despite
Pardon Us being the team’s first staring feature released in the US, the first staring feature film (that I am aware of) the boys appeared in was the 1930 Spanish language,
Noche De Duendes . This was the Spanish version of the short The Laurel and Hardy Murder Case (though scenes from
Berthmarks were incorporated in). This film was 49 minutes, while a feature only needs to be 40. This was done because of higher film rental prices overseas. Often to pad out the length performances were added. For instance, in
Politiquesias the party Ollie is throwing includes the popular vaudeville entertainer Hadji Ali’s bizarre act (I cannot possibly explain it in words, watch the film) and the magician AJ Cantu doing his stuff. As well as length these foreign language films also featured more risqué moments than those that appeared in the original versions. For instance, in
La Vida Nocturna (the Spanish version of
Blotto), there is a dance number with a barely dressed woman. In
Politiquesias one of the characters is directly called a slut. In
Les Carottiers (The French version of
Be Big and
Laughing Gravy), the landlord says, “They can go to Hell.” Though these were done in the pre-code Hollywood era, pre-code Hollywood was not always as free to do anything as you might think. Films could be banned in various theaters (The Mickey Mouse cartoon
The Whoopee Party was banned from some theaters due to Clarabelle Cow’s dangling udder for instance) and they had to be careful how far they went with vulgarity, which is why stuff like this did not appear in the team’s English language films. The most surprising change to any of these films however appeared in
Ladrones (The Spanish version of
Night Owls). Here the ending was changed completely. In the original just Edgar Kennedy gets arrested, however in the Spanish version Stan and Ollie also get arrested. Then a new scene is added. As Stan and Ollie are being taken to jail in a convertible car, they grab hold of a tree branch and accidentally end in the police chief’s car, which then drives into a river. Pardon Us turned out to be the only one of the boy’s English language features to get the foreign language treatment, as soon this method would be abandoned in favor of dubbing. Those who have seen these films will be quick to note that Oliver Hardy seems to adapt to speaking foreign languages while Stan Laurel seems a bit more uncomfortable. These foreign language films not only prove fascinating to Laurel and Hardy buffs but are highly entertaining to the casual fan as well. In foreign countries these films proved to be extremely popular.
Variety talked about Gleuckline Kindheit (the German version of Brats) saying “Away from the U.S. in foreign countries, Laurel and Hardy appear to be the ace film attraction. Though in shorts, they are heavily billed, with the foreign theater where one of their shorts is playing seemingly certain of a profitable period. In Spanish territories Laurel and Hardy are a panic as soon as they speak. This is regardless of any action, they speak with a comical accent to the natives; their Spanish must sound like Milt Gross does to Americans… This is The Brats in its original English version as far as action is concerned. Comedy teams speaks German. L & H’s German occasionally possess a decided American twang”
-Michael J. Ruhland
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