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:

71 min 68 min (colorized)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

At 4'9" and under 100 lb., Daphne Pollard was almost literally, half the size of screen husband Oliver Hardy. She more than made up for the size differential in frostiness, and portrayed Mrs. Hardy in several films.

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Goofs

When Ollie first looks at the photo of himself, Stan and their twins, he's holding it with both hands, but in the next shot he's only holding it with his right hand.

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Quotes

Ollie: Do you realize what you've done?
Finn: I don't care what I've done. Serves you right for not introducing me. Besides, they weren't so hot anyway. Where did you pick them up? Did you win them on a punch bowl?

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Alternate Versions

There is also a colorized version.

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Connections

Edited into Dance of the Cookoos (1982)

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Soundtracks

Happy Birthday to You
(1893) (uncredited)
Written by Mildred J. Hill and Patty S. Hill
In the score when the birthday cake is shown

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.