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IMDbPro

Their Purple Moment

  • 1928
  • Passed
  • 22m
IMDb RATING
6.7/10
797
YOUR RATING
Oliver Hardy, Kay Deslys, Anita Garvin, Stan Laurel, and Tiny Sandford in Their Purple Moment (1928)
ComedyShort

Stan and Ollie hold out money from their paychecks from their shrewish wives so they can enjoy a night out on the town... with predictable results.Stan and Ollie hold out money from their paychecks from their shrewish wives so they can enjoy a night out on the town... with predictable results.Stan and Ollie hold out money from their paychecks from their shrewish wives so they can enjoy a night out on the town... with predictable results.

  • Directors
    • James Parrott
    • Fred Guiol
  • Writers
    • H.M. Walker
    • Stan Laurel
  • Stars
    • Stan Laurel
    • Oliver Hardy
    • Anita Garvin
  • See production, box office & company info
  • IMDb RATING
    6.7/10
    797
    YOUR RATING
    • Directors
      • James Parrott
      • Fred Guiol
    • Writers
      • H.M. Walker
      • Stan Laurel
    • Stars
      • Stan Laurel
      • Oliver Hardy
      • Anita Garvin
    • 16User reviews
    • 3Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
  • Photos78

    Kay Deslys and Anita Garvin in Their Purple Moment (1928)
    Their Purple Moment (1928)
    Oliver Hardy, Jimmy Aubrey, and Tiny Sandford in Their Purple Moment (1928)
    Stan Laurel in Their Purple Moment (1928)
    Oliver Hardy, Jimmy Aubrey, and Stan Laurel in Their Purple Moment (1928)
    Oliver Hardy in Their Purple Moment (1928)
    Oliver Hardy and Stan Laurel in Their Purple Moment (1928)
    Lyle Tayo and Fay Holderness in Their Purple Moment (1928)
    Tiny Sandford in Their Purple Moment (1928)
    Stan Laurel in Their Purple Moment (1928)
    Lyle Tayo, Fay Holderness, and Patsy O'Byrne in Their Purple Moment (1928)
    Daisy Earles and Harry Earles in Their Purple Moment (1928)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Stan Laurel
    Stan Laurel
    • Mr. Pincher
    Oliver Hardy
    Oliver Hardy
    • Ollie
    Anita Garvin
    Anita Garvin
    • Oliver's Girlfriend
    Kay Deslys
    Kay Deslys
    • Mr. Pincher's Girlfriend
    Fay Holderness
    • Mrs. Pincher
    Tiny Sandford
    Tiny Sandford
    • Waiter
    • (as S.J. Sandford)
    Lyle Tayo
    Lyle Tayo
    • Mrs. Hardy
    Leo Willis
    Leo Willis
    • Taxicab Driver
    Jimmy Aubrey
    Jimmy Aubrey
    • Cook
    • (uncredited)
    Chet Brandenburg
    Chet Brandenburg
    • Waiter
    • (uncredited)
    Ed Brandenburg
    • Waiter
    • (uncredited)
    Dorothy Coburn
    Dorothy Coburn
    • Hatcheck Girl
    • (uncredited)
    Edgar Dearing
    Edgar Dearing
    • Waiter
    • (uncredited)
    Gracie Doll
    • Midget Performer
    • (uncredited)
    Daisy Earles
    Daisy Earles
    • Pink Pub MIdget Performer
    • (uncredited)
    Harry Earles
    Harry Earles
    • Pink Pub Midget Perfomer
    • (uncredited)
    Helen Gilmore
    Helen Gilmore
    • Pink Pub Patron
    • (uncredited)
    Clara Guiol
    Clara Guiol
    • Waitress
    • (uncredited)
    • Directors
      • James Parrott
      • Fred Guiol(uncredited)
    • Writers
      • H.M. Walker
      • Stan Laurel(uncredited)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The troupe of midgets hired for a deleted scene in the film came from the Al G. Barnes Circus, which was wintering in Los Angeles, at the time. They were paid $50 a day.
    • Goofs
      When Stan knocks on the front door and enters the door is completely different in the interior shot. It's the same when Ollie and his wife enter.
    • Quotes

      Title card: [Opening lines] Dedicated to husbands who "hold out" part of their pay envelope on their wives - And live to tell about it...

    • Connections
      Featured in 4 Clowns (1970)
    • Soundtracks
      Oh, You Beautiful Doll
      (1911) (uncredited)

      Music by Nat Ayer (as Nat D. Dyer)

      Instrumental version in restoration background music

    User reviews16

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    6/10
    A great build-up . . . to a big let-down
    For about three-fourths of the way, Their Purple Moment is a sharp, funny Laurel & Hardy comedy, albeit one with a distinctly sour take on married life. This is the first of the L&H domestic comedies, and sets the tone for much of what would follow: Stan and Ollie are each at the mercy of their domineering wives, a pair of hard-bitten shrews who treat them like children, promptly appropriate their paychecks, and deny them any pleasures. (Later on the wives would usually be more nuanced, sometimes even sympathetic, but in this early film they're quite mean.) In what would become a standard plot for the team, this film tells the sad story of what happens when the boys attempt to fool their spouses. Of course, the only question is just how disastrously the situation is going to backfire.

    Here, Stan and Ollie tell the wives they're going bowling, then defiantly set out on a spree, under the delusion they've got lots of cash on hand. So when they encounter two attractive young ladies in distress, stuck with a bill they can't pay, naturally, they step in and gallantly offer to treat them to dinner. And it's all downhill from there!

    The situation the boys blunder into is a well-constructed comic nightmare that steadily builds in intensity, and the sequence is genuinely suspenseful -- right up to the food-fight finale, which is such a fizzle it practically ruins the whole show. This is surprising, considering that, according to the various books on the team, a much more offbeat and imaginative ending was planned and filmed, but then jettisoned. The original finale utilized the midget troupe of entertainers who perform a floor show in the restaurant. In the earlier version, when the boys discover they have no money to pay their bill, they were to escape by disguising themselves as midgets -- midget women, at that -- and slip away with the troupe. The idea flirts with tastelessness, but it sure seems funnier and more memorable than the finale as it stands now.

    Oh well. There are good reasons to watch and enjoy Their Purple Moment nonetheless, among them the famous gag of the uncle's portrait with the hidden pocket, the spirited performance of Patsy O'Byrne as the town gossip, and the always welcome presence of Anita Garvin, here playing a good-time gal who packs a knife. There's also a priceless close-up of Stan, when it dawns on him that he has no money to cover the ever-growing tab: in an extended shot he displays a remarkable range of expressions, from horror to befuddlement, to hope and despair and back again. He was the greatest!
    helpful•12
    1
    • wmorrow59
    • Mar 17, 2002

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    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • May 19, 1928 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United States
    • Official site
      • Official Site
    • Languages
      • None
      • English
    • Also known as
      • В щекотливом положении
    • Filming locations
      • Hal Roach Studios - 8822 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA(Studio)
    • Production company
      • Hal Roach Studios
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      22 minutes
    • Color
      • Black and White
    • Sound mix
      • Silent
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.33 : 1

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    Oliver Hardy, Kay Deslys, Anita Garvin, Stan Laurel, and Tiny Sandford in Their Purple Moment (1928)
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