The most authoritative texts have long maintained the following: that it was in this film that Hardy invented both the so-called tie-twiddle (the gag in which he plays with his tie to conceal embarrassment) and his peculiar but exquisite look into camera. But these gags belonged to a film which was considered lost. When the film eventually re-emerged, it became clear that in actual fact nobody in it wears a tie. Serious doubts about the look into camera also remain. At first glance, it seems like a film doomed to failure, a victim of miscasting. Stan is a happily engaged, sweet-hearted fisherman who is called upon to save his belle from a brutal sea dog. The surprising thing is not that he disguises himself as a woman (a trifle for Stan); rather, it is how diabolically astute the character is. Aided by windswept blonde curls, he apprehends and flattens the sailors one by one (with animated stars and spirals appearing from the edge of the frame to suggest his punches). Oliver, as the ship’s mate (he is second placed in the film’s hierarchy, too), sports a prickly beard and is quick with his fists. His erotic flirtation with Stan exerts a bewildering charm and hints at an unexpected dark side.

Andrea Meneghelli

A film with a theme. The subject? Trouser legs. The outcome? A deconstruction of masculinity. Quite unusual, one might think, but not really for Laurel & Hardy. In this case, the film does not focus on a woman who wants to wear trousers but rather a man who does not want to give up wearing a skirt. Stan plays a young man who arrives in New York from another world (Scotland) sporting the obligatory kilt and immediately displaying his disdain for local customs to the immigration officer. Oliver plays the American uncle. When the Scotsman glimpses a woman’s petticoat, he goes crazy and springs into hot pursuit. His bizarre attire attracts an incredulous but enthusiastic group of local onlookers. For him, a tailor taking his measurements is the height of humiliation. He anticipates Marilyn Munroe when walking over a sidewalk grate (causing women to faint, as he is not wearing any underwear). It is a theoretical film (whether deliberately or not is irrelevant) which nonetheless refuses to forego the joy of stupidity. Most scholars are of the opinion that this is the film which launched them as a comic duo.

Andrea Meneghelli