The Bullfighters (1945)

User Rating:

6.2/10   

Director:

Malcolm St. Clair

Writer:

Scott Darling (original screenplay)

Release Date:

May 1945 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical

Plot:

Bumbling detective Stan Laurel disguises himself as a famous matador in order to hide from the vengeful Richard K. Muldoon, who spent time in prison on Stan's bogus testimony.

Plot Keywords:

Matador | Testimony | Disguise | Fountain | Mass Hysteria

Cast

Stan Laurel	...	Stan / Don Sebastian
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie
Margo Woode	...	Señorita Tangerine
Richard Lane	...	'Hot Shot' Coleman
Carol Andrews	...	Hattie Blake
Diosa Costello	...	Conchita

Runtime:

61 min (FMC Library Print) (copyright length)

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Approved (PCA #10615) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

After Laurel and Hardy won the Rodriguez Good Neighbor Scroll, a popularity award in Mexico, Fox wanted to put their comedy team in a story set South of the Border.

Goofs:

Continuity: Stan Laurel's scenes as Don Sebastian are dubbed by a Spanish-accented baritone voice in order to help the audience distinguish the two characters. However, in the scene in which the real matador says "Gracias," Laurel's real voice inexplicably remains.

Quotes:

Stanley Laurel: [alarmed, after noticing that McCoy has signed into the hotel guest book with an "X."] He's forging my name!
Oliver: Shhhh!

Movie Connections:

References Hollywood Party (1934)

Soundtrack:

Bim, Bam, Bum

Certainly not typical L&H but "watchable".

I say "watchable" as if telling someone that when the dentist pulls their tooth, it'll only hurt a little while. Not a great recommendation for a film. This was it for the boys. Hollywood had essentially "forgotten" them and didn't appreciate their type of humor any more. This film is merely a stitched together series of some of the old gags used in their earlier shorts and features but without any direction or cause and effect. W. Scott Darling certainly was not a good choice at all for doing the writing considering his background in writing for the Sherlock Holmes series or the screenplay of "Ghost of Frankenstein". How did they figure that he would be adept at writing comedy for such a great team? It would be like John Huston writing something for Abbott & Costello immediately after he finished "The Maltese Falcon" or "Casablanca". NON SEQUITOR. Stan & Ollie really should have realized how much things had changed in Hollywood by the early forties and just quit while they were ahead with their "Saps At Sea" or "A Chump At Oxford", both from 1940. This film is only interesting from the viewpoint of watching what the "big studios" could do to a person's career. Sort of a "post mortem" effect.