Directed by Luis Buñuel
Written by Luis Buñuel and Salvador Dalí
1929/France
IMDb page
Repeat viewing/YouTube
One of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Di
I don’t do drugs. I am drugs. — Salvador Dali
The Master of Unfulfilled Desires got his start with this short film made in conjunction with Salvador Dali. There is no plot exactly, just a lot of surrealist imagery and some characteristic jabs at the Church and some erotic but unconsumated liaisons. 19 minutes. It was interesting to circle back around after seeing most of Buñuel’s films in my journey through cinema history.
Big Business
Directed by J. Wesley Horne, Supervising Director Leo McCarey
Written by HM Walker
1929/US
Hal Roach Studios
IMDb page
First viewing/YouTube
[opening title board]
Narrator: The story of a man who turned the other cheek – and got punched in the nose.
Laurel and Hardy are door-to-door salesmen of Christmas trees in Los Angeles. Their sales technique leaves a lot to be desired. Their final customer says no rather violently and the boys respond tit for tat as their car and the customer’s house are completely destroyed. 16 minutes. I enjoyed it.
See how much of 20’s Culver City and LA still survives
We were discussing Laurel and Hardy on my FB page and my Aunt Kathy mentioned Big Business as her favorite Laurel and Hardy short.
My favorite of all their films is Way Out West (1937). I love that little dance they do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LXCwlO2jnYU
My favorite of their feature films is Sons of the Desert.
My favorite of their short films is probably Men O’ War. I taped it off AMC in the 1990s and I used to watch it all the time.
But I also love Brats, The Music Box and Tit for Tat. There’s so many good ones!
Sons of the Desert is a close second.
Laurel and Hardy were extremely popular in Denmark in my childhood. Not a weekend went by without television airing a short or two of theirs. They even had particular names in Danish: Gøg og Gokke .
This is probably the reason I have a certain affinity for their shorts which I remember as better than they probably really are
Laurel and Hardy were kid’s TV staples when I was a kid as well. I would say they were my favorite of the many great comics of the period, but then I was introduced to Wheeler and Woolsey.