Producer: Hal Roach. Copyright 12 February 1936 by Metro Goldwyn Mayer Corp. New York opening at the Rialto: 16 February 1936. U.S. release: 14 February 1936. 8 reels. 70 minutes.
SYNOPSIS: Based on the operetta by Balfe, this is a tale of gypsies who, offended by the master of a noble house, kidnap his only child, and raise her as one of their own. Years later, the gypsy band returns to the same locality, where the old nobleman still mourns the loss of his daughter. The girl, now a young lady, in love and unaware of her past, is betrayed by a jealous gypsy woman.
NOTES: Final film appearance of Thelma Todd, who died on 16 December 1935. In order to eliminate controversy, most of her scenes were dropped. This film M-G-M's biggest box-office success in France for 1936.
COMMENT: One could be nasty and say that it was difficult to tell which was funnier: the scenes that were meant to be funny or those that were meant to be taken seriously. The directors lost a grand opportunity to really send up this ridiculous old operetta by having most of the players including Moreno, Wells, Busch and Carleton play with heavy theatrical over-emphasis admittedly but perfectly straight nonetheless — and even Hardy himself is guilty in his few dramatic scenes. One could say this except that the funny scenes in the hands of such two accomplished masters of timing are so funny, particularly the last couple of reels with Stan doing some delightful business with some empty bottles and a climactic run-in with our old friend James Finlayson and Stan delightfully putting the soldiery to flight with a whip; and we love Oliver's masterful fade-out on the scene in which he is suddenly presented with a six- year-old child — "Come, Stanley, let's spread the glad tidings!" enunciated with delightfully comic emphasis.
Where some critics get the idea there are only two songs I don't know. The 52 minute TV version is full of songs, not only solos for some romantic gypsy, Miss Wells and Mr Carleton, but numerous choruses of gypsies and soldiers and an insistent music score that heavily underlies every scene whether "dramatic" or comic. The songs themselves are not bad and some are quite catchy but in keeping with the film's generally drab production values, the sound recording is tinny and the staging is straight out of a stage presentation of the operetta by the Lower Podunk Amateur Dramatic Society. At least the corny and unintentionally ludicrous presentation matches the wheezes of the dialogue (which seems to have been lifted straight from the stage) and the ridiculously melodramatic turns of the plot.
Oddly enough the 52 minute TV version in which some unsung genius has made a game try to improve the film by extremely sharp editing and elaborate cross-cutting in the first 30 minutes or so is a reasonable success. Aside from L&H, Finlayson and Zeffie Tilbury alone of the players enact their ludicrous lines with the tongue-in- cheek heartiness they deserve.
OTHER VIEWS: The full 70 minutes version is entertaining and also moves fast, though there is still a bit of inventive cross-cutting and the censor has chopped Moreno's flogging scene (which is accompanied bizarrely by a light-hearted tune from the background orchestra). Laurel and Hardy's fortune-telling episode which was deleted from the 52 minutes version has been restored — and a very funny sequence it is too. Oddly it also boasts one of the most effectively inventive camera angles of any L&H movie (not generally noted for their photographic finesse).
L&H are remarkably at home in the weird plot, but the support players fare less adroitly. Fin is great but doesn't enter till the climax. On the other hand, Tilbury and Todd (who has virtually nothing outside of her introductory song, which is dubbed anyway) disappear without explanation after their initial scenes.
When she finally enters, Julie Bishop makes a fetching heroine, though saddled with obvious dubbing for her famous solo, "I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls". Despite the poor sound quality and primitive staging, the songs come across excitingly enough to maintain interest in the overly melodramatic plot. A bizarre fade-out with the boys saved NOT just in the nick of time is typical Laurel and Hardy.
SYNOPSIS: Based on the operetta by Balfe, this is a tale of gypsies who, offended by the master of a noble house, kidnap his only child, and raise her as one of their own. Years later, the gypsy band returns to the same locality, where the old nobleman still mourns the loss of his daughter. The girl, now a young lady, in love and unaware of her past, is betrayed by a jealous gypsy woman.
NOTES: Final film appearance of Thelma Todd, who died on 16 December 1935. In order to eliminate controversy, most of her scenes were dropped. This film M-G-M's biggest box-office success in France for 1936.
COMMENT: One could be nasty and say that it was difficult to tell which was funnier: the scenes that were meant to be funny or those that were meant to be taken seriously. The directors lost a grand opportunity to really send up this ridiculous old operetta by having most of the players including Moreno, Wells, Busch and Carleton play with heavy theatrical over-emphasis admittedly but perfectly straight nonetheless — and even Hardy himself is guilty in his few dramatic scenes. One could say this except that the funny scenes in the hands of such two accomplished masters of timing are so funny, particularly the last couple of reels with Stan doing some delightful business with some empty bottles and a climactic run-in with our old friend James Finlayson and Stan delightfully putting the soldiery to flight with a whip; and we love Oliver's masterful fade-out on the scene in which he is suddenly presented with a six- year-old child — "Come, Stanley, let's spread the glad tidings!" enunciated with delightfully comic emphasis.
Where some critics get the idea there are only two songs I don't know. The 52 minute TV version is full of songs, not only solos for some romantic gypsy, Miss Wells and Mr Carleton, but numerous choruses of gypsies and soldiers and an insistent music score that heavily underlies every scene whether "dramatic" or comic. The songs themselves are not bad and some are quite catchy but in keeping with the film's generally drab production values, the sound recording is tinny and the staging is straight out of a stage presentation of the operetta by the Lower Podunk Amateur Dramatic Society. At least the corny and unintentionally ludicrous presentation matches the wheezes of the dialogue (which seems to have been lifted straight from the stage) and the ridiculously melodramatic turns of the plot.
Oddly enough the 52 minute TV version in which some unsung genius has made a game try to improve the film by extremely sharp editing and elaborate cross-cutting in the first 30 minutes or so is a reasonable success. Aside from L&H, Finlayson and Zeffie Tilbury alone of the players enact their ludicrous lines with the tongue-in- cheek heartiness they deserve.
OTHER VIEWS: The full 70 minutes version is entertaining and also moves fast, though there is still a bit of inventive cross-cutting and the censor has chopped Moreno's flogging scene (which is accompanied bizarrely by a light-hearted tune from the background orchestra). Laurel and Hardy's fortune-telling episode which was deleted from the 52 minutes version has been restored — and a very funny sequence it is too. Oddly it also boasts one of the most effectively inventive camera angles of any L&H movie (not generally noted for their photographic finesse).
L&H are remarkably at home in the weird plot, but the support players fare less adroitly. Fin is great but doesn't enter till the climax. On the other hand, Tilbury and Todd (who has virtually nothing outside of her introductory song, which is dubbed anyway) disappear without explanation after their initial scenes.
When she finally enters, Julie Bishop makes a fetching heroine, though saddled with obvious dubbing for her famous solo, "I Dreamt I Dwelt In Marble Halls". Despite the poor sound quality and primitive staging, the songs come across excitingly enough to maintain interest in the overly melodramatic plot. A bizarre fade-out with the boys saved NOT just in the nick of time is typical Laurel and Hardy.