“SONS OF THE DESERT.”

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20340, 25 June 1934, Page 3

“SONS OF THE DESERT.”

Laurel and Hardy in Great Film. No custard tarts are thrown in “ Sons of the Desert,” the Laurel and Hardy full-length comedy now showing at Regent Theatre, but just about everything else that used to happen in the old slapstick days is included. And this, with the inimitable pair of fun provokers in the van, is what makes the picture so attractive. It appeals not to rhyme or reason, but it gives ninety minutes of side-splitting laughter, and what more can a jaded populace demand? There is nothing of the great open spaces of the Sahara, or even Arizona, where * most of the “great” Arab films are manufactured, in this big dose of laughter. Just why it is given this intriguing name . can be found out on seeing the picture, and if there might be some disappointment about the absence of sand and camels and all the other unpleasant things that come out of Egypt, then that disappointment will be forgotten within two minutes of the title being flashed on the screen. Strange as it may seem, there is a plot. It wouldn’t matter greatly to this remarkable pair if they were told to make a picture without a scenario, for their very methods of • going about the ordinary things of life are amusing enough, goodness knows. On this occasion, the story tells of a great deception; how two men escaped from the loving care of their wives to attend a convention in Chicago, when they were supposed to be in Honolulu. Plates—grosses of them—are hurled at the miserable Hardy, until he is just a semblance of his former self. As for the dumb gentleman, Mr Laurel, he has it proved to him that honesty is the best policy. After all, it is a very fine picture, coming up, as far as laughter is concerned, to all that has been claimed for it. Something more than the usual glimpse of a horse-race is shown in the supporting programme, which includes a fine picture of the 1934 Grand National. From start to finish the camera follows the large field of steeplechasers and their varied fortunes. The exciting finish is seen in detail in as fine a racing film as has been shown in Christchurch for many a long dav. A coloured revue, a cartoon, a novelty picture and an up-to-date news reel complete the programme.