(April 1950 - April 1951, 98m) Director: Leo Joannon Released: Les Films Sirius, October 17, 1951  Nearly six years after Laurel and Hardy had called it a day, they got an offer to do another film, financed by companies in England, France and Italy. Stan was now in his sixties, with Hardy not too far behind, though between this and The Bullfighters Hardy had appeared as Willie Paine in a middling John Wayne western known as The Fighting Kentuckian (1949) and as an uncredited Horse Player in Riding High (1950), taking his tally of solo films up to 276. Stan, meanwhile, had finally got the satisfaction in his personal life that he'd always longed for: after divorcing Virginia Ruth for the second time in April 1946, he married Ida Kitaeva in May of the same year. Ida would be with Stan for the rest of his life. For once Stan and Ollie's personal lives were secure (apart from considerable alimony payments that both had to make) and it was before the cameras that their troubles really started. It's difficult to imagine a film as ludicrously misconceived as Atoll K. With all three financing countries wanting to be represented, French and Italian actors were hired... yet unfortunately they couldn't speak English. As a result these legally-bound entrants into Laurel and Hardy's movie world were (badly) dubbed throughout. The resulting mess sees Laurel and Hardy reacting in English to actors who, in real life, they couldn't understand... clearly an unsatisfactory starting arrangement for any film endeavour. To add to this Stan's diabetes had gotten worse, he'd developed prostate problems and then caught dysentery on the set, losing nearly 50lbs during the making of the film. In a terrible irony that Stan would possibly appreciate, it became the ultimate in Stan's 'body horror' humour, where a frail wraith of a man shares the screen with an unhealthy-looking, obese partner as Hardy's weight had ballooned and he was almost literally three times Stan's weight. Neither of them should have been making a film with their health in such a poor state, and it's this factor above all else that makes Atoll K such a painful viewing experience. Stan's own opinion on it was characteristically dismissive of the post-Roach series, writing to a fan in 1962 'I wouldn't recommend this one in any dimension - VERY POOR!' Yet, as I've said with the prior films, it's about context. The first couple of times I saw Atoll K I gave it a one star rating as the dispiriting appearance of the pair unnerved me. Yet this was when all I knew were the Roach films, and having watched all of Laurel and Hardy's work in chronological order I can now see that Hardy's weight problem had progressed throughout the forties. He's the heaviest he'd ever be on film here, but it's a problem that had increased gradually rather than overnight. Put this on after Saps At Sea and it's a shock...put it on after the Fox/MGM output and it's far less so. As for Stan, well... you do fear for his safety in the film, but you can watch with the knowledge that he got well again and lived on for nearly fifteen years after the film was complete. The duration, title and release date of the film given above relate to its world premiere in France. A 97 minute version was released for the Italian market under the title 'Atollo K', but prints of this take have long since been lost. It was released in Europe throughout the remainder of 1951 to largely poor reviews, and held back until 1953 before a 96 minute version retitled 'Robinsoe Crusoeland' was released in the United Kingdom. It wasn't until December 1954 that it was finally released in America, hacked down to 82 minutes and given the pleasing title 'Utopia'. As it was received so poorly in the US no one remembered to take out copyright for it, leading it to fall into the public domain and become one of the most easily distributed Laurel and Hardy films of all. It's this easy access that has lead to the number of poor quality copies on the market, Laurel and Hardy's longest film and their most available. Yet, despite the many problems going against it, it has something. For all their wonderful knock-about routines and treatises on the nature of hardship and friendship, there's sometimes the feeling that Laurel and Hardy never explored the full range of their comic potential. In shorts like Their First Mistake they enter a slightly more verbal, cerebral area of humour, and with Atoll K we get a form of political satire where the duo take over an island and Stan is elected 'the people'. It's no Duck Soup (Marx Brothers version) to be sure, and when the two stars are severely ill and none of their co-stars speak a word of English it was never going to be. But it was something new, not the reheated leftovers that Fox had served up, or the completely misconceived tedium of the MGM product. To clarify this, I'm not saying that the Roach films felt lacking, merely that there were even more territories that they could explore. Is the film funny? No. It's got an awkward atmosphere, a combination of fear over Stan's health coupled with the two stars trying something new too late in their lives and doing it with people who aren't speaking the same language. Things aren't helped by many of the DVD releases using incredibly poor prints, which is somewhat shocking when the movie cost so much to make. (By 2009 standards it'd be around the $50 million mark). But the bonus is, Stan and Ollie are Stan and Ollie. They really are. An old, not particularly funny and bewildered looking Stan and Ollie, but it's the two guys we last saw go to jail in 1939 released eleven years later and looking to live out their final days in the sun. When you watch the Fox and MGM movies (Jitterbugs excepted) then most of them you wonder how they could have been so misconceived in ideas. Realistically speaking, then most of the 1940s output that I've given two stars to... well, let's just say I'm a generous man and leave it at that. But when you watch Atoll K there's maybe a small voice inside you that say it's actually got a good central premise. Laurel and Hardy inherit an island so set it up as their own country, abolishing all rules and outlawing taxes. (Ironically Hardy had been sued by the taxman as recently as 1941 for the best part of $100,000). The only problem is, without rules, then people from all over flock to the island and do what they please. There are no immigration or export laws, so Laurel and Hardy are powerless to stop them, and end up getting sentenced to death under the lawlessness of their own constitution. As a political satire it's far too padded to really work, but if you had to pick a film from 1941 onwards to remake then surely it would be this one? Is 'Atoll K' a success? No, definitely not. Does it have a workable central premise that could be remade into a success? I'd say so. In an earlier review of this movie I criticised it for showing Stan threatening a man with a bottle (then accidentally glassing a friend in the face with it), a man implying that he's going to rape a woman and our heroes about to be hanged. Yet having rewatched their back catalogue then just look at Our Relations, the extended Pardon Us and Fra Diavolo - all of those things occurred there. Though admittedly, having their stateless friend eaten by a lion is a little harsh. What also helps is that Laurel and Hardy inventing their own lawless constitution on an island where they live with a stateless man is far more in keeping with the political ideology of Stan and Ollie than the 1940s stuff. Sure, there are those that will say that Stan and Ollie have no politics at all, but when you've made films with signs that read 'gone to the fight the Japs' and you've blown up a Japanese submarine killing all on board then this can no longer hold true, even if you're no longer the architect of your own actions. Lucille Hardy reported that both men were supporters of the Democrat President Harry S. Truman, and Stan was particularly opposed to issues like segregation. It seems fitting that two friends of the entire world should go out not fighting the world's wars, but attempting to forge their own new world where all nations can live together in peaceful co-existence. No, Atoll K's a dud in a long line of duds. But at least Stan and Ollie got to say goodbye as themselves, whatever their surroundings. 'Well here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!' 'I couldn't help it, you're always picking on me [cries]' Fade out.   Laurel and Hardy's final offer for a film came with the 1951 RKO picture Two Tickets To Broadway. Unfortunately delayed work on Atoll K ended any chance of this happening and so Two Tickets To Broadway became the final film of the vaudeville act Smith and Dale. Offers of television and radio series continued up to the mid 1950s, though a combination of ill health and unsuitability stopped all of them progressing. It's a sobering thought that Laurel and Hardy's final film work was completed before rock and roll was even invented. Two great comedians who seem so alive on screen to us today, having achieved all they would ever achieve six decades ago. In 1952 Stan and Ollie toured Britain and Ireland with a sketch written by Stan titled 'On The Spot', and again in 1953 with another new sketch 'Birds of a Feather'. The tour continued until 1954, where in December of that year the duo were captured for TV audiences as part of This Is Your Life. Arriving at a hotel under the belief that new TV projects were to be discussed, the two men are hoodwinked into the ceremony by host Ralph Edwards. Edwards's constant references to Hardy's weight, coupled with Laurel's ill-at-ease appearance and their inability to recognise many of the surprise guests make it a distressing viewing experience. In 1957 Stan wrote about his appearance on the programme as 'Frankly, there is very little to it, and a bit disappointing in the fact that there wasn't enough time to devote on two lives at one time, so nothing of interest was brought out, and what was divulged didn't mean a thing to anybody. Anyway, Ralph Edwards and Hazel Bishop got a free show out of it.' However, Hardy's health was declining around this time. In May 1954 he had a mild heart attack, then began to rapidly lose weight during 1956. Although this was attributed to a weight loss programme to help his heart, Stan revealed in private letters that Hardy had developed cancer, which led to further health problems. In September 1956 he suffered a stroke, and was nursed by his wife, unable to speak. Tragically for such a loved comedian his health got even worse, suffering more strokes that sent him into a coma, before he died on the 7th of August 1957. The late forties and early fifties were a bad time for Laurel and Hardy luminaries. Edgar Kennedy had died at the age of 58, just five years after his performance in Air Raid Wardens. James Finlayson died of a heart attack in October 1953, while Charlie Hall followed not long after in December 1959. In 1957 the director Robert Youngson released a compilation film titled The Golden Age of Comedy, showcasing the silent works of Stan and Ollie. Although it's been so long since I've seen any of Youngson's work I cannot offer comment, Stan was not impressed with the edited output, particularly as the film was successful but he never received any royalty payments from it. More Youngson compilations followed, including When Comedy Was King, Laurel and Hardy's Laughing 20's, The Further Perils of Laurel and Hardy and 4 Clowns. In 1961 Larry Harmon bought the rights to the Laurel and Hardy likenesses from Stan and Hardy's widow. Harmon, a man who had previously bought the rights to Bozo the Clown, went on to make a highly generic cartoon series, which was inexplicably popular and ran for over 160 episodes in the mid 1960s. A generic comic was also released followed by an appalling 'New Adventures of Larry and Hardy' movie starring Bronson Pinchot in 1999. While such things are, of course, subjective, it's my view that the spirit of Laurel and Hardy was not well served by Harmon's involvement. Throughout the sixties Stan became ill, having to recover from a stroke, haemorrhaging in his eye and the further onset of his diabetes. It's heartbreaking that two much-loved comedians did not have more peaceful deaths, as on February 23rd 1965 Stan passed away of a heart attack, aged 74. Laurel and Hardy had finally left us. Although the writing on this site is my own, some facts and figures have been gleaned from the many Laurel and Hardy books out there. Here I'll list only the ones that I've used as research for this site. That's not to say that ones not listed here aren't good reads and worthwhile, it's just that my pocket can't afford to buy them all: Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy - John McCabe The Comedy World of Stan Laurel - John McCabe Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy - Simon Louvish Also extremely helpful was the essential website Letters From Stan.com, and Randy Skretvedt, whose research not only aided some of the books out there on Laurel and Hardy, but who was also kind enough to answer some of my questions about the boys. His own book, 'The Magic Behind The Movies', is an excellent one, one which I read many years ago but didn't use directly for researching this site. (Like I say, I'm not made of money... I took it out of the library a while back). Oh, and let's not forget the boys at The Nutty Nut News Network who have many audio clips and interviews for you to listen to. Lastly, I always like to drop in and look at the reviews on Laurel and Hardy Central.com (AKA Hard Boiled Eggs and Nuts). I haven't particularly used it as research here, but it's a good site and it's always fun to compare your opinions with those of the two Johns.
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