Onstage they get to do pitch-perfect impressions, but off they reveal other sides to the men. Baird’s direction is warm and quietly stylish, but he lets his actors take all the attention. The affection for the subjects is clear in every frame. Every audience from one to a million gets the same amount of effort. Alone they’re close but often businesslike, held back with even a single pair of eyes on them they blossom into life, slipping into routines in the hope of raising a smile. Jeff Pope’s script gives us two men whose partnership needs an audience to thrive. Hardy speaks of the film as a ‘when’ Laurel’s face says it’s very much an ‘if’. Laurel and Hardy have reunited after briefly going their separate ways and find themselves far from the spotlight, preparing for a tour of Britain’s smaller theatres while they wait to hear whether financing has been secured for their comeback movie. The story and the direction hit a softer groove as we jump to the 1950s.
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