Laurel & Hardy's Movie Franchise
Stan Laurel und Oliver Hardy sind das erfolgreichste und beliebteste Komiker-Duo der Welt. Die hochgelobte Dokumentation erzählt packend und emotional die Geschichte der beiden Comedy-Genies, bietet dabei interessante Blicke hinter die Kulissen und geht auf amüsante Weise der Frage nach, warum Laurel & Hardy weltweit ungebrochen populär sind.
A gruff sea captain, who absolutely detests the word ghost, is having trouble manning his ship because of the rumor it's haunted. He inveigles Stanley and Oliver into helping him shanghai a crew from the sailors at a dockside bar. The comic duo accomplish this by using one of the funniest devices ever put into a movie, and of course it all goes wrong.
After escaping from jail where they had "one more week to serve," Laurel and Hardy travel to Scotland as stowaways on a cattle boat, where Laurel (as "Stanley McLaurel") believes he is heir to his grandfather's fortune. As it turns out, Laurel has only been bequeathed a set of bagpipes and a Tobacco#Snuff container.Use of the latter causes Hardy, trying to demonstrate to Laurel the proper way to use snuff, to fly off an old bridge. His clothes are soaked.
Laurel and Hardy are seated at a dock (maritime) where Stan is fishing. Ollie sees a notice in a newspaper which says one Ebeneezer Laurel has died and left a large estate. Parties interested in the estate should go to the Laurel mansion for the reading of the will (law). Stan can't remember if Ebeneezer is a relative or not but they decide to go to the mansion anyway. They arrive during a thunderstorm and discover that Ebeneezer had been murdered and that the police had placed the notice in the newspaper to draw all of the relatives together to find out who committed the crime.
Jimmy Durante is jungle star Schnarzan the Conqueror, but the public is tiring of his fake lions. So when Baron Munchausen comes to town with real man-eating lions, Durante throws a big party for him so that he might use the lions in his next movie, but his film rival sneaks into the party to buy the lions before Durante can.
Stan and Ollie arrive as new Incarcerations at a prison after apparently taking part in a hold-up raid, a raid they tell a prison officer they were only watching. After attempting to escape and giving themselves up after the officer shoots them in the seats of their pants they are sent to dig ditches with other convicts on work detail. After sitting down to eat at the officer's table and chopping down a tree being used as a watchtower, they accidentally puncture the radiator in the prison inspector's car with a pickaxe and then try to patch it with rice on the advice of another convict. The rice boils up and spews out after the engine is started. This starts a rice-throwing melee with the visiting governor and his party.
Oliver Hardy plays a character who is preparing for his wedding day to the daughter of a wealthy oil magnate, Peter Cucumber. His friend, played by Stan Laurel, is the best man. While visiting Ollie in the morning, Stan reveals his wedding present – a jigsaw puzzle. The boys soon become preoccupied with the puzzle, as do other people – a taxi driver, Ollie's butler, a telegram delivery boy, even a cop. Cucumber is enraged at the delay at his daughter's wedding (especially after Stan has a wreath delivered to the reception), and makes his way to Ollie's house. The jigsaw puzzle is almost completed except for one elusive missing piece; the cop insists that no-one can leave the house until it is found, including Cucumber ("I don't care if he's Mr. ''Dill Pickle''", sneers the cop, unimpressed). A fight breaks out, leading to a police raid in which all are arrested except Stan and Ollie, who manage to hide themselves. The puzzle gets knocked over in the mayhem; Ollie's telegram is from his broker, advising him to quickly sell his shares in "The Great International Horsecollar Corporation" (in which all of Ollie's fortune is invested in), but a radio newsflash says the company took a "tremendous crash and failed". Despite Stan's assurance that "prosperity is just around the corner", Ollie angrily tells him to leave. As he leaves, Stan actually manages to find the jigsaw's missing piece, but before he can do anything more, a furious Ollie throws him out of the house.
Slow-witted army private Cuthbert Hope (Laurel) manages to makes life miserable for his gruff Top Sergeant Banner (Hardy). Banner must also report back to firm Captain Bustle (Jimmy Finlayson).