Run Time: 20 minutes. Studio: Hal Roach Studios. Director: Fred Guiol. Writer: Leo McCarey. Titles: H.M. Walker. Producer: Hal Roach. Main Cast: Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, James Finlayson, Tiny Sandford. Cinematographer: George Stevens. Editor: Richard C. Currier.
As Flicker Alley's recent Blu-Ray set Laurel and Hardy: Year One proved Laurel and Hardy's first year as a team is simply full of many delights. Though their characters were not fully developed in many of these films, there is a lot to enjoy about them. There are many great gags throughout these shorts and even if they are not the Stan and Ollie we know, Laurel and Hardy prove themselves to be top notch performers who work perfectly together. Though not the best known of these early shorts, The Second Hundred Years is a delightful silent comedy.
Like many of the best silent comedies this film has an extremely simple storyline. Stan and Ollie are in jail sharing a prison cell. Together they plan an escape. However, it does not go as easy as they would hope.
This is simply a wonderful little comedy. While the Stan and Ollie characters we know and love are far from fully formed here, the chemistry between the two actors is already extremely apparent. Watching this film, it is very easy to see why these two went on to become one of the most popular comedy teams of all time. This comedy also gets a lot of milage out of its simple premise. There are a lot of wonderful gags here and some great comedy set pieces. The boys disguising themselves as painters and them being mistaken for dinner guests are two delightful set pieces that should put on smile on any classic comedy fan's face. As is true of most any silent comedy from the Hal Roach Studio, many good laughs come from H.M. Walker's intertitles.
The publicity for this film stated, "new staring team uncorks riotous performance in first picture as a comedy duo." While this is not the first film in which the two worked as a team (they had worked as a team previously in Duck Soup, Do Detectives Think and Hats Off (all 1927)), from this point on the two would always work together as a team. Though the studio caught on to how well these two worked together, they would often time in their first year appear as two actors in the same film rather than a traditional comedy team, but from The Second Hundred Years on this would no longer be the case.
The person most often given credit for the teaming of Laurel and Hardy is Leo McCarey. About the origin of the two teaming, McCarey stated, "When I contributed -as I always did - to the gag and story sessions of the comedy All-Stars, I commented from time to time on the particular suitability of Hardy as Stan's comic foil. They seemed to fit so well together I said - not only because they were such contrasting figures, but also because they seemed to have this solid instinct that only top-flight comedians have of the reality underlying a gag." He would also state, "gradually their parts grew longer, and the parts of the other players grew smaller." Hal Roach would take some credit for himself as well. Roach would state, "I would say McCarey was 50% of it. I mean I was the boss, I was the guy that told McCarey to do it. I think Leo set a standard for their kind of humor that was followed after that." Naturally Hal Roach played a role in the teaming of Laurel and Hardy and it wouldn't have happened without him. However, one can debate about the percentage given here. Leo McCarey would go on to become a major Hollywood director. His movies would include Duck Soup (1933), Six of a Kind (1934), Ruggles of Red Gap (1935), The Milky Way (1936), Make Way for Tomorrow (1937), The Awful Truth (1937), Going My Way (1944), The Bells of St. Mary's (1945) and An Affair to Remember (1957).
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy had different reactions to the idea of being teamed. Stan did not want to be the part of a comedy duo. The reason for this had nothing to do with any feelings toward Oliver Hardy. Rather Stan wanted to work behind the camera as a director and writer, rather than being tied to working as an actor. Oliver Hardy on the other hand looked forward to being part of a comedy team. He had previously spent much of his career playing supporting roles and found moving into larger roles a very attractive idea.
Since this was a prison picture, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy had their heads shaved for this film. When the team appeared in supporting roles in the Max Davidson short, Call of the Cuckoos (1927), their hair had not grown back yet, and they appear with their shaved heads. When Stan's hair grew back after the making of this film, it grew back very messily. It grew straight up and looked quite unkempt. When Stan noticed that this was getting laughs, he kept it this way and it became a staple of his screen character.
Exhibitors Herald and Moving Picture World, 1928
Exhibitors Herald World, 1928
Motion Picture News, 1928
The script for this film was only four pages long. The filmmakers at the studio already knew how great these two were at improvising and wanted to give them plenty of room to do just that. The script does however begin with an elaborate comedy set piece that did not make it into the final film. This sequence would involve a scene involving a dummy and a prison guard. Randy Strekvedt in his book The Laurel and Hardy Movie Scripts states that this was probably going to be the same guard who is played by Tiny Sanford in the final film. The largest scene this guard gets in the final film is in the wonderful marching comedy set piece. This set piece was barely hinted at in the script, yet this mostly improvised sketch remains one of the highlights of the final film. Improvised sketches that are not in the script, would remain a normal part of the Laurel and Hardy films for Hal Roach for more than a decade after this short.
Tiny Sandford appeared in 23 Laurel and Hardy films. In multiple of these films, he would play an officer of the law similar to his role here. These include Big Business (1929), Double Whoopee (1929), The Hoose-Gow (1929) and Pardon Us (1931). His other Laurel and Hardy films include Below Zero (1930), The Chimp (1932) and Our Relations (1936). However, comedy fans might know him best for his roles in the Charlie Chaplin features, The Circus (1927), City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936).
Director Fred Guiol, only directed 10 Laurel and Hardy films. However, he did have a strong and varied career. He had worked as a cameraman on some of Harold Lloyd's short films and had a small acting role in the Harold Lloyd feature A Sailor Made Man (1921). Even before this he had been a prop boy on D.W. Griffith's Hearts of the World (1918). Movie buffs might know him best for his collaborations with the legendary director George Stevens (who had also worked at the Hal Roach Studio as both a cameraman and director). He would work on some of Stevens' most loved films. He would be a writer on Gunga Din (1939) and Giant (1956). He would be a producer on Talk of the Town (1942) and as an associate director on Shane (1953). Fred Guiol would direct some of the streamliners (films that were between the length of the average short and the average feature) for Hal Roach and the Wheeler and Woolsey movie, Silly Billies (1936).
This film is readily available to watch on YouTube (as you can do below). However, I very much recommend getting Flicker Alley's Laurel and Hardy: Year One Blu-Ray set (which not only has a better-quality version but a lot more treats for Laurel and Hardy fans).
Resources Used
Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies by Randy Skredvedt
The Laurel and Hardy Movie Scripts by Randy Skredvedt
Laurel and Hardy Year One Blu-Ray set liner notes by Randy Skredvedt
https://mediahistoryproject.org/
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