Our Relations is a 1936 feature film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

Laurel and Hardy

Laurel and Hardy were one of the most popular and critically acclaimed comedy double acts of the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema...

, produced by Laurel

Stan Laurel

Arthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson , better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film...

 for Hal Roach Studios.

Plot

Laurel and Hardy star as both their famous Stan and Ollie

Oliver Hardy

Oliver Hardy was an American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted nearly 30 years, from 1927 to 1955.-Early life:...

 characters and as Stan and Ollie's twin brothers Bert and Alf. The duo had previously made two other dual role films-Twice Two

Twice Two

Twice Two is a Laurel and Hardy short film. It is one of only three films where the boys each play a dual role.-Plot:A year prior to the first scene, Stan Laurel married Oliver Hardy's sister , and Oliver married Stan's sister in a double wedding. They all live together and Stan and Ollie work in...

(in which they also played Stan and Ollie's wives) and Brats

Brats

Brats is a 1930 Laurel and Hardy comedy short. The film was directed by James Parrott. Laurel and Hardy play dual roles as their own children....

(in which they also played Stan and Ollie's children).

Cast

Stan Laurel

Stan Laurel

Arthur Stanley "Stan" Jefferson , better known as Stan Laurel, was an English comic actor, writer and film director, famous as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film...

 
Oliver Hardy

Oliver Hardy

Oliver Hardy was an American comic actor famous as one half of Laurel and Hardy, the classic double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted nearly 30 years, from 1927 to 1955.-Early life:...

 
Alan Hale

Alan Hale, Sr.

Alan Hale, Sr. was an American movie actor and director, most widely remembered for his many supporting character roles, in particular as frequent sidekick of Errol Flynn. His wife of over thirty years was Gretchen Hartman , a child actress and silent film player and mother of their three children...

 
Sidney Toler

Sidney Toler

Sidney Hooper Toler was an American actor, playwright, and theatre director. Of primarily Scottish ancestry, he was the second non-Asian actor to play the role of Charlie Chan.-Early life and career:...

 
Daphne Pollard

Daphne Pollard

Daphne Pollard was an Australian actress in American films, mostly short comedies. She was also a vaudeville performer and dancer.-Diminutive stage star:...

 
Betty Healy 
Jimmy Finlayson

Jimmy Finlayson

James Henderson "Jimmy" Finlayson was a Scottish actor who worked in both silent and sound comedies. Bald, with a fake moustache, Finlayson had many trademark comic mannerisms and is famous for his squinting, outraged, "double take and fade away" head reaction, and characteristic expression...

 
Iris Adrian

Iris Adrian

Iris Adrian was an American film actress.-Life and career:Born in Los Angeles, California as Iris Hostetter, Adrian won a beauty pageant and worked with the Ziegfeld Follies, before she entered films at the end of the silent era in Chasing Husbands and appeared as an extra or chorus girl in early...

 
Lona Andre

Lona Andre

Lona Andre was an American film actress.Born Launa Anderson in Nashville, Tennessee, Andre attracted attention with her first films in Hollywood and was named as one of the WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1932. After winning the Paramount Panther Woman Contest, she was signed to a movie contract by...

 
Ralf Harolde

Ralf Harolde

Ralf Harolde was an American character actor. Between 1920 and 1963, he appeared in 99 films, including Jimmy the Gent, Night Nurse, Baby Take a Bow, A Tale of Two Cities, Our Relations, and Murder, My Sweet.Harolde was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and died in Santa Monica,...

 
Noel Madison

Noel Madison

Noel Madison was an American character actor in the 1930s and '40s and appeared in 75 films, often as a gangster.-Partial filmography:*Sinners' Holiday *Little Caesar *Play-Girl...

 
Arthur Housman

Arthur Housman

Arthur Housman was an American actor in films during the Golden Age of Hollywood.-Career:Initially as a leading man, Housman later became known as Hollywood's most familiar comic drunkard in films of the 1930s, usually playing cameo parts in features but with better opportunities in short films...

Production

In most of the Laurel and Hardy films, their usual Stan and Ollie characters are a pair of hopeless dimwits, often just barely able to earn a living. In Our Relations, Stan and Ollie are respectable citizens with wives and steady employment. It is their sea-faring twin brothers, Alf Laurel and Bert Hardy, who are dim-witted incompetents. Alf and Bert are sailors aboard the S.S Periwinkle.

On board, Alf and Bert wear seafaring garb. Once ashore, they dress in "civilian" clothes—down to the traditional derbies—making them nearly indistinguishable from their brothers. However, there's a foolproof clue in the neckties: Stan always wore a bow-tie, while Oliver wore the more conventional type. This is reversed for the brothers, with Alf wearing the usual style and Bert wearing the bowtie.

The film is distinguished by the camera work of successful dramatic cinematographer Rudolph Maté

Rudolph Maté

Born in Kraków , Maté started in the film business after his graduation from the University of Budapest. He went on to work as an assistant cameraman in Hungary and later throughout Europe, sometimes with noted colleague Karl Freund...

 (The Passion of Joan of Arc

The Passion of Joan of Arc

The Passion of Joan of Arc is a silent film produced in France in 1928. It is based on the record of the trial of Joan of Arc. The film was directed by Carl Theodor Dreyer and stars Renée Jeanne Falconetti...

(1928)). As the film concerns two pairs of Laurels and Hardies, several process/matte shots featuring all four of Laurel and Hardy's characters are used.

The film was based upon the story The Money Box by W.W. Jacobs. The story was adapted by Jack Jevne

Jack Jevne

Jack Jevne was an American screenwriter. He wrote for 58 films between 1919 and 1956.He was born in Provo, Utah and died in Los Angeles, California.-Selected filmography:* Air Raid Wardens * Barnacle Bill...

 and Charley Rogers

Charley Rogers

Charley Rogers was an English film actor, director and screenwriter, best known for his association with Laurel and Hardy. He appeared in 37 films between 1912 and 1954...

 and the film written by Felix Adler and Richard Connell

Richard Connell

Richard Edward Connell Jr. was an American author and journalist, probably best remembered for his short story "The Most Dangerous Game". Connell was one of the most popular American short story writers of his time and his stories appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and Collier's Weekly...

.

Legacy

In 2000, the Dutch revivalist orchestra The Beau Hunks

The Beau Hunks

The Beau Hunks are a Dutch revivalist music ensemble who have performed and recorded the vintage works of composers Leroy Shield, Raymond Scott, Edward McDowell, Ferde Grofé, and others. They have been referred to as a "documentary orchestra," because they perform note-perfect renditions of music...

 collaborated with the Metropole Orchestra to re-create composer Leroy Shield

Leroy Shield

Leroy Shield was an American film score and radio composer.-Career:A native of Waseca, Minnesota, Shield was an employee of RCA Victor's National Broadcasting Company, for which he composed and conducted on-air musical pieces...

's soundtrack to Our Relations from original sheet music that had been discovered in a Los Angeles archive in 1994 and 1995.

External links

• The Money Box Text of the short story which was the basis for the film.