Touches You

Highly Overrated But Still Good

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

Stan Laurel (1890-1965) and Oliver Hardy (1892-1957) are together in film for the last time in Atoll K (1951), which is also known as Utopia.This comedy duo, that had the thin Stan and the heavy Ollie, worked together as a team since 1926 (even though they appeared together in a movie five years earlier).And this was their last collaboration.In 1955 the pair had contracted with Hal Roach Jr., to produce a series of TV shows based on the Mother Goose fables.Unfortunately Hardy's stroke prevented that from happening.Also Billy Wilder had a plan to make a film with the boys.So in the early 50's they went to France to shoot this French/Italian film, which took a whole year to make.In the beginning the pair is in the offices of a London law firm, where Laurel is to inheritance left by a wealthy uncle.He inherits an island, so the boys head for the island on a rickety yacht.On the yacht with them they have a stateless refugee and a stowaway.A storm breaks and they shipwreck on an atoll, which they name Crusoeland.The island gets a new resident from Chérie Lamour, a nightclub singer who is fleeing her jealous fiancée, a naval lieutenant.Hardy becomes the president of the island while Laurel represents "the people".The place seems like a paradise at first, a place without taxes or legal fees.But then Chérie's fiancée finds uranium deposits from the island.People keep coming from all over the world.The new immigrants start a rebellion and want to hang the original inhabitants.Is this the end of Laurel and Hardy? As the movie's director is credited Léo Joannon, but much of the work was done by the blacklisted director John Berry.This movie was painful to make for Laurel and Hardy.They both had some major health issues.Stan even required hospitalization.But the boys still got their job done, and what a great job they did.The on-screen chemistry is still there, and the capability to make 'em laugh.The leading lady of the movie is played by French singer/actress Suzy Delair (b.1917).She does a wonderful job as Chérie Lamour.The rest of the casting is also good.Max Elloy plays Antoine, the cook.Adriano Rimoldi is Giovanni Copini, the stowaway and a bricklayer from Italy.Luigi Tosi is Lt. Jack Frazer.The movie has pretty much of good stuff and great gags.It's funny when the boys are enjoying a meal and Stan's food keeps disappearing from his plate.The stowaway keeps reaching down and taking it.Stan blames Ollie and that means an argument.The storm sequence is amazing to watch.Stanley struggles with the life raft, crying and screaming for help.And he shrieks when those bats arrive.The ending is pretty much a perfect ending for a Laurel and Hardy movie.Boys have arrived to the right island, when their land and supplies are impounded for failure to pay back taxes.Ollie says to Stan "That's another fine mess you've gotten me into."And what does Stan do? He starts to cry, of course.This movie is better than most people give it credit for.Of course the boys came up with better than this in their earlier years.One of those nine stars is for the life and work of Laurel and Hardy.There will never be a comedy team like Laurel and Hardy.

Not since Bette Davis's 1933 vehicle "Ex-Lady" have I seen a film that was so much better than its star said it was! Most of the bum rap "Atoll K," a.k.a. "Utopia," a.k.a. "Robinson Crusoeland," a.k.a. "Escapade" has got over the years has come from the horror stories Stan Laurel told of its production. Given that he suffered a stroke during filming, looked like death warmed over through much of it (from the opening two-shot of them together you'd never guess that Laurel survived Hardy by eight years) and was subsequently diagnosed with diabetes (once he adjusted his diet accordingly he restored himself to health), one can understand why Laurel didn't think this film was the most pleasant experience of his life. Yes, it's flawed: the cheapness of the production shows through, the dubbing is awful and Laurel and Hardy were too old to do the energetic slapstick of their greatest films. But it's still genuinely funny, and Léo Joannon's story introduces elements of political satire (sometimes libertarian, sometimes communalist) one would expect to see from more socially conscious comedians like Chaplin or the Marx Brothers but never from Laurel and Hardy. The film deserves credit for being different (though its debt to the Ealing Studios' classic "Passport to Pimlico," made just a year earlier, is pretty obvious) and for integrating the Laurel and Hardy comedy into a rather edgy context completely different from anything they'd used before. This isn't a great movie, but it's certainly better than the eight dreary ones for Fox and MGM they'd made in the early 1940's. I suspect only the film's technical crudity kept it from earning the cult following among anti-establishment baby-boomer youth the Marx Brothers' "Duck Soup" acquired in the late 1960's/early 1970's.

When the movie begins, it's obvious just how old and sick the boys are. Although Oliver Hardy is enormous, it is Stanley that looks like death warmed over. Apparently, he was deathly ill during production and had obviously lost a lot of weight. Although he would eventually recover and live another decade and a half, here he looks like a dying man. Additionally, as I watched the film I was shocked how many pratfalls Stan took--I half expected his to drop dead from the exertion. I really can't understand WHY they came out of retirement considering their health--especially when the story and production values are as poor as they are with this film. Stanley inherits an island and a boat. He and Ollie are ready to leave when Antoine, a stateless man, is literally dropped into their boat and they begin their voyage to find the island. Along the way, they discover that Giovanni has stowed away, but despite this the four men become friends and land on a different island. It seems like paradise and they are all very happy. A bit later, a pretty young lady joins them and everything looks grand.Unfortunately, uranium is discovered on the island and the place becomes flooded with riffraff. Eventually, the mob decides to hang the four men and take over--at which point the island sinks back into the sea and the men are spared.I will give the film some credit for being original and for being interesting. However, one thing it is not is FUNNY--and that is unforgivable for a Laurel and Hardy flick. While not a bad film, it certainly isn't a good one. A sad end to their brilliant careers.All the actors, except for the duo, are dubbed into English, as the movie was made in France. While it may not be the very worst film they made (this would be THE BIG NOISE), it sure is close!! Watching this film is painful and like watching people clean up after a severe accident.

In their final movie together, Laurel and Hardy land on an island and try to establish their own society, but things don't quite go as planned after uranium is discovered on the island. "Atoll K" (also known as "Utopia") has the usual sorts of things that one would expect in a Laurel and Hardy movie, what with the various mishaps and things. It's surprising to learn that this flick was from France, but I'm sure that these guys are loved the world over.All in all, this is a good lesson about what might happen when one tries to form a society. Stan and Ollie will definitely live on in the annals of comedy forever.