The first thing you'll probably notice about this silent Laurel and Hardy film is how ugly the print is. Considering that so many of the early nitrate stock films have completely vanished, try to cut the film some slack--at least it's still in one piece unlike the mostly lost HATS OFF by the same team.
You'll also no doubt notice that Stan and Ollie don't in any way look like a team. They play different personas than you're used to seeing and they both even have different hair styles. This is because the team wasn't exactly a team yet. They'd made some films together but the familiar Laurel and Hardy formula was still in the future. Here, the film is more a film where they and James Finlayson star--a trio instead of a duo.
The final thing you'll probably notice is that the film appears to have lost the final few minutes. It all ends very abruptly and nothing is really achieved. My guess is that as much as five minutes are missing from this print--which happens to be the best extant prints of this early film.
James Finlayson plays a hard-drinking rich playboy. He awakens with one of the scariest hangovers I've ever seen and is shocked to find from his butler, Oliver Hardy, that he got married the night before to a gold-digger. She and her family are waiting downstairs to blackmail Fin into a settlement. Finlayson calls his attorney, Stan Laurel, and the three of them really achieve nothing when they talk to the family.
Rather abruptly, the scene switches to the beach. It seems the three escaped and are hiding out, though the blackmailers are soon at their heels. What ensues isn't all that funny (with Laurel and Finlayson pretending to be one ugly lady) and they are chased through a fun house. Then, oddly, it all just ends very, very abruptly with no resolution.
If you have seen the Thelma Todd/Zasu Pitts short ON THE LOOSE, then you might just recognize the fun house--it sure is a dead ringer for the one here. However, ON THE LOOSE is a very good film and SUGAR DADDIES really is only of interest to devoted fans of Laurel and Hardy like myself. Others beware--it's choppy and not particularly funny.
