Hats Off (lost silent Laurel and Hardy film; 1927): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 20:25, 19 March 2016

Original film poster.

Status: Lost

Hats Off is a silent two-reel Laurel and Hardy short film from 1927, the tenth in order of production.^[1] The film involved Laurel and Hardy as salesman attempting to sell a washing machine, but failing each time. The two running gags of the short are Stan and Oliver always falling down a large flight of steps and having to carry back the machine to the top. Hat-switching, another running joke in their films, was also prevalent here, as the title might indicate.

The movie was remade by Laurel and Hardy into a talkie called The Music Box, revolving around a piano instead of a keyboard and using similar gags.

Despite the film's great success among critics and public, it vanished after its last screening in Germany in 1930. There have been several unconfirmed rumors of sightings of the movie in the 50's, but none have been confirmed and no prints have been found. Laurel and Hardy historian Randy Skretvedt dubbed Hats Off "The Holy Grail of Laurel and Hardy movies." ^[2]

Lake, an early TV film distributor, listed Hats Off as available for TV bookings. This was later proven to be a mistake, as he used a list of all shorts ever created rather than what was accessible to them.

All that has survived is the original script, several stills, and posters of the film, but no video footage is known to exist. A reconstruction of the film has been made based on the script and surviving stills.

Gallery

Reconstruction Effort

Reconstruction of the film.

References

↑ Wikipedia article. Retrieved 19 Mar '16.
↑ Laurel and Hardy Central page. Retrieved 19 Mar '16.

[1] Wikipedia article. Retrieved 19 Mar '16.

[2] Laurel and Hardy Central page. Retrieved 19 Mar '16.

[1]

[2]

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-'''''Hats Off''''' is a silent two-reel short film starring American comedy double act Laurel and Hardy, the tenth in order of production. While other previously lost Laurel and Hardy movies such as ''Duck Soup'' and ''Why Girls Love Sailors'' were re-discovered in past decades, ''Hats Off'', to this day, remains entirely missing.
+{{InfoboxLost
+|title=<center>Hats Off (1927)</center>
+|image=Laurelandhardyhatsoff.jpg
+|imagecaption=Original film poster.
+|status=<span style="color:red;">'''Lost'''</span>
+}}
-The movie involved Laurel and Hardy as salesman attempting to sell a washing machine, but failing each time. The two running gags of the short are Stan and Oliver always falling down a large flight of steps and having to carry back the machine to the top and the two switching their hats, a gag which was retrained for other shorts as well.
+'''''Hats Off''''' is a silent two-reel Laurel and Hardy short film from 1927, the tenth in order of production.<ref>[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hats_Off_(1927_film) Wikipedia article.] Retrieved 19 Mar '16.</ref> The film involved Laurel and Hardy as salesman attempting to sell a washing machine, but failing each time. The two running gags of the short are Stan and Oliver always falling down a large flight of steps and having to carry back the machine to the top. Hat-switching, another running joke in their films, was also prevalent here, as the title might indicate.
-The movie was remade by Laurel and Hardy as a talkie called ''The Music Box'', utilizing the same flight of steps, with a piano instead of a washing machine. The same director, Hal Yates, remade it another time in 1945, as a movie starring Edgar Kennedy, called ''It's Your Move'', but using a different (although similar) flight of steps.
+The movie was remade by Laurel and Hardy into a talkie called ''The Music Box'', revolving around a piano instead of a keyboard and using similar gags.
-Even though the movie was a great success among critics and public, after being last publicly shown in Germany in 1930, ''Hats Off'' vanished without a trace, although there have been several unconfirmed rumors of sightings of the movie in the 50s. Laurel and Hardy historian Randy Skretvedt dubbed ''Hats Off'' "The Holy Grail of Laurel and Hardy movies".
+Despite the film's great success among critics and public, it vanished after its last screening in Germany in 1930. There have been several unconfirmed rumors of sightings of the movie in the 50's, but none have been confirmed and no prints have been found. Laurel and Hardy historian Randy Skretvedt dubbed ''Hats Off'' "The Holy Grail of Laurel and Hardy movies." <ref>[http://laurelandhardycentral.com/hatsoff.html Laurel and Hardy Central page.] Retrieved 19 Mar '16. </ref>
-Lake, an early TV film distributor, listed ''Hats Off'' as available for TV bookings, but since there were many other silent movies that nowadays are considered lost, rather than cataloguing the movies in their possession, they copied titles from old releases charts under the assumption that the prints were available.
+Lake, an early TV film distributor, listed ''Hats Off'' as available for TV bookings. This was later proven to be a mistake, as he used a list of all shorts ever created rather than what was accessible to them.
-The original script, several frames and posters of the film survive, but as of 2014, there is no video footage available to the public, whatsoever.
+All that has survived is the original script, several stills, and posters of the film, but no video footage is known to exist. A reconstruction of the film has been made based on the script and surviving stills.
+==Gallery==
 <gallery mode=packed heights=175px>
-File:Hats_off_poster27-1-.jpg|One of the original 1927 ''Hats Off'' posters.
 File:Another still from the movie..jpg
 File:Hats Off.jpg
@@ Line 17: / Line 23: @@
 </gallery>
+==Reconstruction Effort==
+{{#ev:youtube|https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_WbrXEMU6E|640x480|center|Reconstruction of the film.|frame}}
+==References==
+<references/>
 [[Category:Lost films]]