Silent Films: pre-team 1921-1927 Laurel and Hardy Silents 1927 Laurel and Hardy Silents 1928 Laurel and Hardy Silents 1929 Laurel and Hardy sound films (alphabetical order): A-Haunting We Will Go Air Raid Wardens Another Fine Mess Any Old Port! Atoll K (aka Utopia) Babes In Toyland Beau Hunks Be Big! Below Zero Berth Marks The Big Noise Block-Heads Blotto The Bohemian Girl Bonnie Scotland Brats The Bullfighters Busy Bodies Chickens Come Home - The Chimp A Chump At Oxford Come Clean County Hospital The Dancing Masters The Devil's Brother aka Fra Diavolo Dirty Work The Fixer Uppers The Flying Deuces Fra Diavolo aka The Devil's Brother Going Bye-Bye! Great Guns Helpmates Hog Wild The Hoose-Gow Jitterbugs Laughing Gravy The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case The Live Ghost Me And My Pal Men O'War The Midnight Patrol The Music Box Night Owls Nothing But Trouble Oliver The Eighth One Good Turn Our Relations Our Wife Pack Up Your Troubles Pardon Us Perfect Day Saps At Sea Scram! Sons of the Desert Swiss Miss Their First Mistake Them Thar Hills They Go Boom! Thicker Than Water Tit For Tat Towed In A Hole Twice Two Unaccustomed As We Are Utopia (aka Atoll K) Way Out West Specials: Cameos Cartoons For Love Or Mummy Laurel and Hardy Memories "Stan"

Below Zero Year: 1930 Directed by: James Parrott Duration: 20m DVD Availability: Try sendit.com (region 2 only) Viewpoint: "About how much money do you boys average a street?" "I would say about fifty cents a street." "Here's a dollar - move down a couple of streets." While not their funniest film, Below Zero is perhaps one of Laurel and Hardy's most artistic. The victims of depression in a snowstorm, there's even a touch of Chaplin in certain elements. The short is still heavily indebted to the silent era, and all the better for it, inspiring greater pathos. The first, and most successful, half of the film contains less than twenty lines in over ten minutes of running time. Stan's completely gormless expression while playing the organ had me in stitches, as did the inanity of the music. His morbid fascination with the unfortunate and deformed sees them playing in front of a deaf and dumb institute and ending with his belly swollen and distended. In one of their most blatant displays of toilet humour, he also apparently mimes needing to go to the lavatory as the climax. Freudians would even have a field day with Ollie's phallic weapon, while there's also time for a joke about a blind man in there as well. The second half sees them find a wallet in the street, and treat a helpful policeman to a slap-up meal with the proceeds. Despite this being one of the Laurel and Hardy movies with the most integrity, make no mistake: it is also highly amusing. There's even touches of surrealism with Stan's multi-pocketed wallet, and, while scant, some clever wordplay. Recommended. Before the days of subtitles and dubbing, Laurel and Hardy showed great integrity by speaking phonetic Spanish, French, Italian and German in order to appeal to a wider market. Using language coaches and prompt boards, they managed to perform various foreign language versions of their features and shorts, the most recent find being a German version of The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case in 2004. The Spanish version of Below Zero, Tiembla y Titubea is most notable for running exactly seven-and-a-half minutes longer than the standard version, or an extra reel. This includes an inessential opening scene between the policeman and his superior, but also a nice bit of business where Ollie finds himself inadvertantly stealing from a blind man's collection tin. This also explains how the cop could have accidentally dropped his wallet in the location. Speaking of which, Tiembla y Titubea has more violent overtones than the original, with the cop (here played by Robert O'Connor instead of Frank Holliday) firing two shots after the robber, and the robber firing two back. The original just has an innocuous "Get outta here! Beat it!" Similarily, while the English-speaking restaurant has a man switching out the lights before their beating, in the Spanish version we get to see five henchmen, one flexing his fists, another with a knife, and a third brandishing a bottle!