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Rating: The "Sons of the Desert" want you!
When we talk about serious cinema, alongside Fritz Lang, Eisenstein, and Sergio Corbucci, we can't pretend not to know about the existence of the mythical (here the term fits perfectly) Laurel & Hardy.
An institution, a guarantee, a training ship for entire generations, and if I am what I've become, I owe it to them in large part! ?
Raise your hand if you have NEVER seen one of the black-and-white comedies of this pair of Kings of Comedy!!
(Well, now put them down, thank you).
We were saying... An intellectual comedy duo taken as masters of New York Neo-Realism and the entire Neo-Masculinist Movement and Beyond from '28 to '42. Here actually, in this "Sons of the Desert" (1933), for many their Ideological Summa, they anticipate the Great Social Struggles that will emerge in America at the dawn of the First World War which was imminent. The plot is soon told, as suggested by this site
Determined to elude the prohibition by the wife of one of them, Laurel & Hardy get a false doctor to prescribe a likewise fake health trip to Hawaii, while instead, they go to Chicago, to the congress of the beloved Sons of the Desert association. After having a mad time between one parade and another, even to the notes of Honolulu baby, they jubilantly complete the prank, returning home with ukuleles and flower garlands... But if the ship from Hawaii turned out to have sunk, how do they manage to be where they are? The lie comes to light, and the heavier liar sinks under an avalanche of dishes.
It was called a "breakthrough film" also for the high degree of misogyny present in the film where women (the only 2 in the entire film!) are once again portrayed as hysterical women, harpies, and heartless... where the only way to deal with them is through lies, deception, and diversion. As if to say nothing has changed in 60 years of history! The topic indeed, ignited a real revolution from the first American feminist movements who saw the film as a "preemptive denunciation" by the masculinist culture to return women to the old rank of wife/maid/slave of the hearth.
And it was from this strong conviction, masked as a light-hearted prank, that in 1965, a true movement inspired by the film's association itself ("Sons of the Desert" indeed) finally came to life, which even had the blessing of Stan Laurel himself who died a few months before the inauguration.
A true international association called 'Sons of the Desert' that unites the endless fans of the most famous duo in world cinema spread around the world, promoting everything about the Myth of Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy.
This is to remind you that even in Italy there are many (official) associations that gather their legacy: The first is called We Are The Columns and is located in Modena, then there is Oasi 165 founded in 1992 and led by Tiziano Medici and Graziano Giovenzana, in Prato Hard Heads is active and, lastly, in 2006 Oasi 258 was born from the devotion of Alessandro Santi and Alberto Vangelisti (as mentioned here).
Ohh but you can be part of it too! To join is easy: just send your details to the official site: www.ifiglideldeserto.it
and for the modest sum of 15 euros, you get: the official t-shirt, a DVD copy of the film (which alone is worth the price), and the "Son of the Desert" card.
I have no. 13.478, just saying.
And now, garlands firmly planted around your neck, sing along with me: "Honoluluuuu babyyy…."
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