Image copyright © by Marcus Trahan

Sons of the Desert

(1933)

This has to be in my list of Top Five Laurel and Hardy features, a list I don’t actually keep. In fact, it is the first of their really classic features, the first in a long string of some of the best comedies ever made, a streak that didn’t really peter out until the mid-1940s when they left Hal Roach and the other studios didn’t really understand what they were all about. Sons of the Desert is the lodge the boys belong to. Think Shriners but stupider. They sneak off to a convention their wives have forbidden them to attend, and are caught. There is much fun along the way. BTW: There are Sons of the Desert chapters all over the country to this day, composed of L&H fans who get together to keep the memories alive.