Twice Two (1933)

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The whole point of this Laurel and Hardy two-reeler was to dress up the comic duo as women and have them play each other's wives. It's a simple domestic scenario -- Oliver Hardy, brain specialist, and Stan Laurel, his "associate advisor," are celebrating their one year wedding anniversary. They are… More The whole point of this Laurel and Hardy two-reeler was to dress up the comic duo as women and have them play each other's wives. It's a simple domestic scenario -- Oliver Hardy, brain specialist, and Stan Laurel, his "associate advisor," are celebrating their one year wedding anniversary. They are married to each other's sisters and call home to see if the girls want to go out. Mrs. Laurel (played by Hardy) says no, that they want to have dinner in, as they have a surprise for Ollie. As the girls prepare for their husbands' return, the surprise -- a cake -- winds up on Mrs. Laurel, in a typical Laurel and Hardy SNAFU. Through various edits, doubles and matte shots, all four of them have dinner together, and the girls start bickering at each other. Finally, Ollie grabs his wife, Fannie (played by Laurel), and is about to leave when the replacement cake arrives. Fannie gives it to Mrs. Laurel -- right on the head. While this isn't one of the very best Laurel and Hardy shorts -- it's basically a one-joke film, with a concept that was done better in 1930's Brats -- it does have a fair share of laughs. It's amusing to see Oliver Hardy's mannerisms in feminine form, and Stan Laurel's "sister" is as dither-brained as he is -- at one point, Ollie calls her brother stupid, and she retorts, "Don't call him stupid! Why, you've forgotten more than he'll ever know...in his little finger!" The wives' voices were dubbed by actresses Carol Tevis (for Mrs. Hardy) and May Wallace (for Mrs. Laurel). ~ Janiss Garza, Rovi