Saps at Sea was the last film Laurel and Hardy made at the Hal Roach Studios and the last one with Harry Langdon (who was one of the great silent movie comedians and worked as a writer on the Laurel and Hardy features The Flying Deuces (1939), A Chump at Oxford (1939) and Blockheads (1938) as one of the writers and the last one where they would appear with frequent co-stars Charlie Hall and James Finlayson. With this was also the last film from the duo in which the supporting cast would be providing the laughs just as much as our two stars. In the post-Hal Roach films, Stan and Babe would provide the laughs while all the other actors played it very straight. Almost as if the filmmakers knew this was ending, this movie has some of the nuttiest supporting characters in the history of Laurel and Hardy. This is especially true of Eddie Conrad as Stan’s music teacher. The very way he looks in this film is over the top and silly.
This movie begins with our boys working in a horn factory. However, the constant noise stresses Ollie to the point where he has a mental break down (“Horns to the right of me. Horns to the left of me”). Ollie is then diagnosed with “hornaphobia” and is sent home. A doctor (James Finlayson) tells Ollie the only cure is sea air. Ollie is afraid of sailing, but Stan has an answer, they can rent a boat and sit out in it without sailing. However, one day while the boys are sleeping on the boat an escaped murderer named Nick (Richard Cramer) stows away on the boat and the boat accidently sets sail.
This is an excellent film that resembles the duo’s best shorts. The gags come fast and furious and all of them are very funny. This film goes by so fast that it seems to end before you know it, leaving the audience wanting more.
One delightful sequence involves a cameo from Ben Turpin. During the silent era, many comedians were known for looking unusual. Often this was done through a fake mustache. However, Ben Turpin had probably the most unique physical trait of the silent comedians. He had very crossed eyes. This was obviously used as joke material in plenty of silent comedies. Though he was much less prolific in the sound era, he could sometimes make gag appearances in sound comedies, such as Wheeler and Woolsey's Cracked Nuts (1931). However, Saps at Seas uses these crossed eyes for one of the cleverest jokes the trait was ever given. The legendary director D.W. Griffith was working as a techincal advisor on One Million B.C., which was made at Hal Roach studios. One day he visited the set of Saps at Sea. As soon as he got there he called out, "Where is the great Ben Turpin." D.W. Griffith and Ben Turpin spent quite a while just talking. Griffith then watched the boys film and told them, "You two are greater pantomime artists than Charlie Chaplin." Director Gordon Douglas would later state about this remark, "I think he genuinely believed that too."
Gordon Douglas had just recently directed Oliver Hardy (without Stan Laurel) in Zenobia (1939). That film also featured Harry Langdon in the cast by the way. About making Saps at Sea Douglas said, "After Zenobia which was an expensive picture with some big names in it, the Saps at Sea film was done a lot faster, but that's because Stan was pretty much determined to show Roach, we could do a film efficiently and on schedule. Yes, I directed the film, but Stan was very much in charge. He knew what he wanted, and I had enough sense not to interfere with him. He was giving me an education in directing."
A review in the Hollywood Motion Picture Review stated “Here is one that will drag them in, and they will really enjoy the slapstick. Why doesn’t Universal or Warners grab this pair and give them some decent stories ad a little dough to work with.”
The following is an exhibitor’s review in the Motion Picture Herald dated March 8, 1941.
“Saps at Sea: Laurel and Hardy – I for one regret that these comedy stars comedy stars stopped making pictures. At least there are none in sight and none announced in the trade press. All their pictures have done well at this theater and ‘Saps at Sea’ is no exception to this rule. This picture was filled with the usual L. and H. funnyisms, which brings out gales of laughter. This was doubled with ‘Marines Fly High’ RKO – J. E. Stocker, Myrtle Theatre, Detroit, Mich. Neighborhood patronage.”
The Independent Film Journal had an article about Cleone Cloe Baker the manager of The Raleigh N. C. Varsity Theater, this article stated “Somehow or another she manages to turn a stinkeroo into something less than a complete flop and often times into an overwhelming success. Her recent handling of ‘Saps at Sea’ a Laurel and Hardy comedy- a success by the way that brought her a letter of congratulations from the president of her chain- is one of the best examples of Mrs. Baker in action. When informed that the Varsity must run ‘Saps at Sea’ Mrs. Baker was in despair – She knew it was the kind of show her customers would stay away from in droves. Putting on her thinking cap, she hit upon an ‘All Comedy Night.’ At once she went to work putting out lots and lots of strategic advertising and getting some comedy shorts to fill out the bill. Result: A capacity house that broke the all-time record.” This shows that by this time Laurel and Hardy films where no longer the guaranteed box office successes they had been during the 1920’s and 30’s.
Resources Used
https://mediahistoryproject.org/
Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies by Randy Skretvedt
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