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
Lucien Callamand	...	Le porteur
Vittorio Caprioli	...	Monsieur Paltroni, avocat italien
Henri Cote
Michael Dalmatoff	...	Alecto
Joé Davray
Hubert Deschamps

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

It was quite apparent from his appearance that Stan was gravely ill during production. Completion of the film was delayed while Stan had an operation in Paris. He would fully recover and live another 15 years.

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Goofs

The opening scene in the lawyers' offices supposedly takes place in London, but the nameplate on the outside of the lawyers' building is in French.

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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 Laurel and Hardy: Die komische Liebesgeschichte von 'Dick & Doof' (2011)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

Better than currently given credit for.

The movie is not halve as bad as people want to make you believe it is.

What is the reason why so many people hate this movie? Is it because it's Laurel & Hardy's last one together and it's not their best? Or is it because of the lack of Laurel & Hardy regulars? Or because it's not made by the Hal Roach studios or 20th Century Fox?

Definitely true that this movie is not a successful attempt to revive Laurel & Hardy and bring them to the '50's. It's also definitely true that the movie is far from their best but honestly, the movie still entertains well, making this movie also far from their worst. Not the most worthy 'goodbye' movie imaginable but an entertaining and suiting goodbye nevertheless. Both of them retired from movies after completing this one.

The movie still features some great slapstick moments and the chemistry between Laurel & Hardy is obviously still very much present. It also makes this movie better than most of their movies together from the '40's. Quite a surprise that the slapstick humor still works out as great as it does, considering that the days of slapstick comedy had been over, ever since the '30's.

The story is perhaps not as entertaining as it could had been and it features too many sidekicks and characters, with as a result that the movie looses its focus on the boys at times. A shame, because they are still the ones that really carry and make the movie.

Sad to see in what poor form Stan Laurel was at the time of making this movie. He really looked ill and old, which he also of course was. He was well over 60 years old already. But after a surgery he fully recovered and still lived for another 15 years, before dying in 1965, 8 years after his good friend Oliver Hardy.

An entertaining, though not perfect goodbye to the boys, Laurel & Hardy and the end of 3 decades of fun, humorous, quality slapstick entertainment of movies that are still being watched and loved by people all over the world.

7/10

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