Our Relations

Our Relations
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Harry Lachman
Produced by	Stan Laurel Hal Roach
Written by	Felix Adler Richard Connell
Starring	Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy
Music by	Leroy Shield
Cinematography	Rudolph Maté
Editing by	Bert Jordan
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Release date(s)	October 30, 1936 (1936-10-30)
Running time	73 min.
Language	English

Our Relations is a 1936 feature film starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, produced by Laurel for Hal Roach Studios.

Plot

Laurel and Hardy star as both their famous Stan and Ollie characters and as Stan and Ollie's twin brothers Bert and Alf. The duo had previously made two other dual role films-Twice Two (in which they also played Stan and Ollie's wives) and Brats (in which they also played Stan and Ollie's children).

Cast

Stan Laurel
Oliver Hardy
Alan Hale
Sidney Toler
Daphne Pollard
Betty Healy
Jimmy Finlayson
Iris Adrian
Lona Andre
Ralf Harolde
Noel Madison
Arthur Housman

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 (The Passion of Joan of Arc (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 and Charley Rogers and the film written by Felix Adler and Richard Connell.

Legacy

In 2000, the Dutch revivalist orchestra The Beau Hunks collaborated with the Metropole Orchestra to re-create composer Leroy Shield's soundtrack to Our Relations from original sheet music that had been discovered in a Los Angeles archive in 1994 and 1995.

External links

• Our Relations at the Internet Movie Database
• Our Relations at Rotten Tomatoes
• The Money Box Text of the short story which was the basis for the film.