Laurel and Hardy’s best movie; the boys find themselves in hot water when they scheme to get away from their wives and attend a lodge convention in Chicago. After persuading the wives that Ollie needs to sail to Honolulu for his health, they’re finally free to go to Chicago. The boat sinks on the way back from Hawaii, and the boys end up having to explain how they got home a day earlier than all the other survivors! (hint: they ship-hiked). Talk about a movie holding up for over 70 years! Everything about it is pitch perfect and unforgettable. Watching the boys as they sink deeper and deeper into absurdity trying to explain their early arrival is a gem. In between, they also get themselves into some silly humorous trouble, with the best being a scene in which Ollie flirts with a woman on the phone not realizing it’s his wife he’s talking to!

“Sons Of The Desert” is comedy at its best; it certainly deserves its place among other comedy classics (“The Gold Rush”, “Safety Last” and “A Night at The Opera” come to mind). Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t appreciate these movies anymore. Yet if it weren’t for Laurel and Hardy, we wouldn’t have had Abbott and Costello or even Simon Pegg and Nick Frost. The laughter these guys have given us will never be replicated, and is eternally appreciated.

Rating: 3.5/4