A century of Laurel and Hardy

Why have Laurel and Hardy made generations of viewers laugh, and are still among the few comedians from early cinema whose sketches and films are revived on television today? Alberto Sordi, who dubbed Oliver Hardy (aka Oliver Hardy) in the 1930s, responded to questions like this with a simple statement: “As soon as they appeared, people laughed, regardless of what they said or did. At the sight of this fat guy and this thin guy, they laughed.” Oliver Hardy himself casually explained the success of his partnership with Laurel (aka Stan Laurel): “The world is full of people like Laurel and Hardy. Just look around: there's always a stupid guy who never gets hurt, and a clever guy who's actually the stupidest of all. He just doesn't know it.”

In short, Stan and Ollie were and are popular because they were naturally comical, without superstructure or intellectualism, and because they poked fun, but without cynicism and without ever putting themselves on a pedestal, at the most human of flaws: dullness, presumption, ignorance, superficiality. However, they also knew how to capture the generosity, candor, and joy of living that resides in each of us. They were therefore brilliant at describing the humanity around them without making it heavy, with a lightness and simplicity that for a long time led film critics to consider their films and shorts simple "comedies," when often they were subtle and surreal parodies of everyday life.

The absolute genius of the duo is, fortunately, demonstrated on almost every page in the volume Il cinema di Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy (Edizioni Sabinae 2026, Euro 22.00, pp. 420) by Andrea Ciaffaroni , a great expert on international comedy.

Exactly one hundred years after their first film together, this book is the historical-analytical account of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's cinema and is the demonstration that behind the perfection of their "disasters" lies one of the most turbulent and fascinating careers in the history of comic cinema : a journey spanning over twenty-five years and more than one hundred films, marked by complex choices, brilliant intuitions and epochal changes.

For the first time in Italy, their work is analyzed by focusing on Stan Laurel's authorial role and his unbreakable bond with Oliver Hardy . As Ciaffaroni writes in the book's introduction: "Some affectionate videos are circulating online in which new viewers discover one of their films for the first time and laugh spontaneously, with gusto, noting above all the affection and respect the two had for each other. This unbreakable bond, despite the adversities of a cruel and merciless world, was one of the characteristics that made them among the most beloved comedians: they tried to be respectable bourgeois citizens, but they were naive, idiots; their childishness always caused arguments between them, destined for chaos and the destruction of everything around them. But, mess after mess, their friendship would overcome anything, because neither of them would ever abandon the other.

The volume also focuses on the construction of gags, comparisons between screenplays and completed films, testimonies from collaborators, contemporary reviews, and the research of international scholars. The book reconstructs the evolution of their cinema, the stages of their careers, and how, together, they defined a unique and unrepeatable comic art. As Ciaffaroni writes: "Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy spent their entire lives making people laugh, working hard, first alone and then as a team, navigating every change in the film industry: from silent to sound, from comedies to feature films, right up to the difficulties brought on by the Second World War and the arrival of television. When, in the 1960s, they had almost disappeared, their legend was finally rediscovered and studied—as it still is today."

In short, The Cinema of Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy is a dutiful and passionate tribute to the mimetic and scenic art of Laurel and Hardy, two absolute geniuses who still deserve our attention today—and, above all, our laughter.