Our Relations (1936)

Two pairs of long-lost twin brothers experience high jinks involving a valuable ring, cases of mistaken identity, and gangsters.

Director:

Harry Lachman

Writers:

W.W. Jacobs (suggested by story "The Money Box" by), Richard Connell (screen story)

Stars:

Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Alan Hale

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Stan Laurel	...	Stan Laurel / Alf Laurel
Oliver Hardy	...	Oliver 'Ollie' Hardy / Bert Hardy
Alan Hale	...	Joe Grogan -Denker's waiter
Sidney Toler	...	Captain of SS Periwinkle
Daphne Pollard	...	Mrs. Daphne Hardy
Betty Brown	...	Mrs. Betty 'Bubbles' Laurel (as Betty Healy)
James Finlayson	...	Finn - The Chief Engineer
Iris Adrian	...	Alice
Lona Andre	...	Lily
Ralf Harolde	...	Gangster Boss
Noel Madison	...	Second Gangster at Pirate's Club
Arthur Housman	...	Drunk

Storyline

Unbeknownst to Stanley and Oliver, their long-lost twin brothers, sailors Alfie and Bert are in town on shore leave carrying a valuable pearl ring entrusted to them by their ship's captain. All four get involved in multiple cases of mistaken identity as a gang of hoodlums try to steal the ring Stanley and Oliver wind up with their feet in cement, about to be dumped into the harbor.

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Plot Keywords:

mistaken identity | doppelganger | husband wife relationship | sailors | twin brothers | 

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Taglines:

Fast Furious Funny Full-Length Feature

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Genres:

Comedy

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Arabic

Release Date:

30 October 1936 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sailors' Downfall

Filming Locations:

Hal Roach Studios - 8822 Washington Blvd., Culver City, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hal Roach Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

73 min 68 min (colorized)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

A fat girl in the beach photograph appears to be June Gittelson, and the girl in the framed photograph appears to be Martha Sleeper.

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Goofs

When Stan and Ollie enter Denker's with their wives, a shot behind Alice and Liliy shows cocktail glasses on the table. The next shot, in front of them, has the beer glasses from the first encounter with Bert and Alf.

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Quotes

Stan: Why would they feel like that? Everybody has a black sheep in their closet.

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Alternate Versions

Cut to a one-reel version with the title "Sailors' Downfall".

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Connections

Edited into Dance of the Cookoos (1982)

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Soundtracks

Sailing, Sailing (Over the Bounding Main)
(1880) (uncredited)
Music by Godfrey Marks
In the score when the S.S. Periwinkle docks

User Reviews

Home Are The Sailors

Stan and Ollie also play their twin brothers Alfie and Bert in Our Relations which is their own particular spin on Shakespeare's A Comedy Of Errors.

Laurel and Hardy are both a pair of henpecked husbands in perpetual trouble with their wives and also a pair of sailors who just find trouble wherever they are. The sailors are on leave and get a job from their captain Sidney Toler to pick up a ring. They also have their usual run-in with perpetual nemesis James Finlayson who is intent on fleecing them out of their pay on shore leave and good thing he's as dumb as they are.

Our Relations is more a comedy of the usual mistaken identity situations with twins than it is a series of comedy bits that usually characterize a Laurel and Hardy short. One exception to this is a bit with Stan and Ollie getting into a crowded phone booth with movie inebriate Arthur Housman. No need for description, especially with the diet challenged Ollie as one of the people in that phone booth.

Alan Hale is also in this doing a very nice bit of slow burn comedy as the owner of a waterfront dive who runs into both sets of Stans and Ollies driving him a bit crazy. Of course no one is driven crazier than the wives of civilian Stan and Ollie, Daphne Pollard and Betty Healy. You know how these two are with the women in their lives from The Sons of The Desert. That goes double for Iris Adrian and Lorna Andre the two bimbos the sailors pick up at Alan Hale's joint.

Ironically the Comedy Of Errors would make it to Broadway two years later as Rodgers&Hart did a musical adaption of it as The Boys From Syracuse. Our Relations doesn't have the great Rodgers&Hart songs, but it sure doesn't lack for comedy with Stan and Ollie.