Hats Off | |
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Directed by | Hal Yates |
Written by | H. M. Walker |
Produced by | Hal Roach |
Starring | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy James Finlayson Anita Garvin |
Cinematography | George Stevens |
Edited by | Richard C. Currier |
Music by | Leroy Shield |
Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
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Running time | 20 minutes |
Country | United States |
Languages | Silent film English intertitles |
Hats Off is a lost silent short film starring American-British comedy double act Laurel and Hardy. The team appeared in a total of 107 films between 1921 and 1951.
Stan and Ollie are salesmen attempting to sell a washing machine; they fail constantly after several near misses. One would-be sale has them carrying the machine up a large flight of steps, only to find out that a young lady wants them to post a letter for her. The boys later get into an argument knocking off each other's hats, which eventually involves scores of others. A police van eventually carts all those involved away except Stan and Ollie, who afterwards try to find their own headgear amongst the hundreds of others lying on the street.
Hats Off was an enormous success when first released, which made considerable headway in establishing the Laurel and Hardy team with the public. After being last publicly shown in Germany in 1930, Hats Off disappeared and is now considered a lost film. [1] Laurel and Hardy historian Randy Skretvedt dubbed Hats Off the "Holy Grail of Laurel and Hardy movies." [1]
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy team during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in the silent film era, they later successfully transitioned to "talkies". From the late 1920s to the mid-1950s, they were internationally famous for their slapstick comedy, with Laurel playing the clumsy, childlike friend to Hardy's pompous bully. Their signature theme song, known as "The Cuckoo Song", "Ku-Ku", or "The Dance of the Cuckoos" was heard over their films' opening credits, and became as emblematic of them as their bowler hats.
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