Before their initial encounter in 1921, Stan Laurel and Oliver ‘Babe’ Hardy both had a string of film credits to their names, released by various movie studios. Babe, having featured in more than 230 shorts, sometimes as the lead, but more often cast as a supporting villain, or ‘heavy’, was a well-seasoned professional in the movie business. At the same time, while only having just over a dozen films under his belt, Stan was headlining his own series of comedy shorts, trying to follow in the footsteps of his former music-hall colleague and roommate, who had become the biggest movie star in the world: Charlie Chaplin.
On the whole, The Lucky Dog is your average knockabout bit of silent slapstick, but it has a prominent place in movie history, being the very first film Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy appeared in together. Although the film is far from a typical Laurel and Hardy comedy, there are teasing glimpses throughout of the magic that would eventually follow.

Steve Massa