Utopia (1951)
"Atoll K" (original title)

Heading for a newly inherited island, the boys are shipwrecked and marooned on an atoll which has just emerged from the sea. Along with their cook, a stowaway and a girl who is fleeing her ... See full summary »

Director:

Léo Joannon

Writers:

Monte Collins (additional material), Léo Joannon (story),

Stars:

Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Suzy Delair

Cast

Credited cast:
Stan Laurel	...	Stan
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie
Suzy Delair	...	Chérie Lamour
Max Elloy	...	Antoine
Suzet Maïs	...	Mrs. Dolan
Adriano Rimoldi	...	Giovanni Copini
Luigi Tosi	...	Lt. Jack Frazer
Rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nicolas Amato
Guglielmo Barnabò	...	Propriétaire de la palissade
Simone Bessy	...	Fortune Hunter (as Simone Voisin)
Lucien Callamand	...	Le porteur
Vittorio Caprioli	...	Monsieur Paltroni, avocat italien
Henri Cote
Michael Dalmatoff	...	Alecto
Joé Davray

Storyline

Heading for a newly inherited island, the boys are shipwrecked and marooned on an atoll which has just emerged from the sea. Along with their cook, a stowaway and a girl who is fleeing her fiancé, they set up their own government on the atoll. Uranium is discovered and world powers begin fighting over ownership of the island.

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Plot Keywords:

island | uranium | shipwrecked | revolution | lead actor's last film | 

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Genres:

Comedy

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Details

Country:

France Italy

Language:

French English

Release Date:

14 December 1954 (USA)

Also Known As:

Utopia

Filming Locations:

Antheor, Var, France

Company Credits

Production Co:

Films EGE, Fortezza Film, Franco London Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min 82 min (Ontario)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's final movie together.

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Goofs

Ollie gets a sprayful from the yacht's sink. Yet in the next shot, he's completely dry.

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Quotes

Ollie: [to Stan, after all the diplomatic posts have been assigned] Why Stan... you're *the people*.

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Connections

Featured in Classic Comedy Teams (1986)

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Soundtracks

"Tu N'peus pas T 'figurer"
Music by Paul Misraki
Performed by Suzy Delair

User Reviews

Atoll K enjoyable if you make a few allowances...

For new L&H fans, Stan and Ollie's appearance may be a shock. Stan looks VERY thin and has noticeably aged. Ollie, in contrast, has gained a LOT of weight.

If you can overlook their appearance, and the slow moving subplot, Atoll K does have some good comedy routines. However, their more elderly appearance does hamper what would otherwise be good gags. You just can't laugh at Stan while he is dealing with an inflating raft in the ship's cabin. He looks like he's truly in agony, and you want to help him instead of laugh at him. Also, the film is poorly edited. The original movie was 90 minutes long, but when re-released, it was shortened to a more tolerable 60 minutes. Most of the footage taken out was from the subplot, so taking out the extra half hour improved the movie.

While "The Boys" had more freedom to write gags and dialogue, nobody else on the crew had any idea what to expect in a L&H picture. Confusion and the illness of Stan and Ollie caused the picture to take an entire year to make! Not long after Atoll K was released, Ollie went on a diet and lost a LOT of weight, but it was too late.