Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are the finest comedy duo in the history of motion pictures.  Perhaps fans of Abbott and Costello or Martin and Lewis would offer argument, and it would be justifiable, but we could note that both Lou Costello and Jerry Lewis agree with the assessment that Laurel and Hardy are the best.

Laurel and Hardy’s heyday was the 1920s and 1930s when they were making their best films for Hal Roach Productions, a studio that specialized in comedy.  Classics like TWO TARS (1928), BIG BUSINESS (1929), THE MUSIC BOX (1932), HELPMATES (1931), SONS OF THE DESERT (1934), and WAY OUT WEST (1937) remain among the finest American screen comedies, and are on the short list of favorite films from any learned movie buff.

Laurel and Hardy left the Roach studios in 1940 and began a series of features for the prestigious 20th Century Fox studios the following year.  Working for a bigger studio, it is said that the duo, especially Laurel, were not allowed the same creative control and the resulting films were less interesting.  Laurel and Hardy had gotten older, the very atmosphere of screen comedy had changed, and the studio’s attempt to maintain the classic Laurel and Hardy style in newer, more contemporary surroundings has been considered by many to have failed.

Not true.

Early book-length studies of the team’s films hastily dismissed these later comedies without assessment.  Relying on faulty memory or second-hand reports, the writers of these books often were discussing films they had not seen for themselves.   Thus, when these later films were later discovered by fans, we were pleasantly surprised to find they were often quite pleasant and engaging, and that Stan Laurel’s fertile comic mind was hardly dormant.

Scott MacGillivray was the first to actually assess these later films at length with his book LAUREL AND HARDY FROM THE FORTIES FORWARD, published in 1998.  A newer, updated version of this book has just been released.  It has been revised and expanded to clearly detail this overlooked and frequently misjudged period in Laurel and Hardy’s career.

Popular comedy of the 1940s had a rat-a-tat vaudeville style in the manner of Abbott and Costello or Bob Hope, both of whom enjoyed top box office status more than once during the decade.  Laurel and Hardy’s style seemed like a throwback to the archaic silent era in this context.  The challenge was to maintain the classic Laurel and Hardy style within a more contemporary framework.  Sometimes it was not successful.  A-HAUNTING WE WILL GO (1942) is a tight little B-mystery similar to Fox’s Charlie Chan series, but Laurel and Hardy seem a bit out of place.  Perhaps if one approaches the film as a B mystery in which Laurel and Hardy offer comedy relief, and not as one of their starring vehicles, it is easier to accept.

However there are some films during this period that are as pleasantly funny as many of their earlier features.  THE BIG NOISE (1944) has garnered a ridiculous reputation as the duo’s weakest film, when in fact it is perhaps their best from this period, and uniformly better than some of their films of the 1930s (SWISS MISS and BONNIE SCOTLAND immediately come to mind).   There is much characteristic Laurel and Hardy humor, and a delightfully kooky premise (the boys pose as detectives and must guard a powerful explosive to be used in the war effort).  Its surreal ending caps it nicely.  Laurel himself is on record as singling out THE BIG NOISE as a success.  THE BULLFIGHTERS (1945) is perhaps the most characteristic Laurel and Hardy film of the 1940s, benefiting greatly from Laurel’s creative input (including another surreal ending).

Other Fox films from this period, including the topical army comedy GREAT GUNS (1941), the wild slapstick finale of THE DANCING MASTERS (1943), and the more sedate, situational, far less slapsticky JITTERBUGS (1943) are also covered extensively for the many delights each film offers.

Two films on loan out to MGM during the 1940s – AIR RAID WARDENS (1943) and NOTHING BUT TROUBLE (1945) – fare less effectively, but still contain a lot of funny material (Longtime on-screen nemesis Edgar Kennedy appears in the former, Buster Keaton was one of the contributing gag men on the latter).

MacGillivray’s latest edition not only lengthens and clarifies his original assessments, but also offers more information on the financial success of each movie.  NOTHING BUT TROUBLE, for instance, was the biggest moneymaker of the team’s entire career.

Critical comments are steady and often surprisingly positive (slapstick often received a snooty disdain in some circles), while audience response recorded by period theater owners indicate that these 1940s Laurel and Hardy efforts were very well received by period moviegoers.

Laurel and Hardy’s extraordinary career should not be angrily limited to only a portion.  Their status as active stars at a major studio netted a frequently cohesive blend of the duo’s long beloved and inimitable style with an understanding of contemporary narrative structure.   Laurel’s contribution is discernible, and age does not dampen the effect of his and Hardy’s wonderful comic timing.  FROM THE FORTIES FORWARD sets the record straight from a writer who has actually seen the films.  Scott MacGillivray’s accurate assessments make this study an absolute must for students of vintage screen comedy.