Beau Hunks (1931) beau_hunks__title_card_.jpg
The course of true love never runs smooth,something which Oliver Hardy is learning the hard way when he falls in love with Jean Harlow (Jeanie-Weenie ) ,unfortunately for the viewer its just a photograph that we see and not the actual Jean Harlow in the flesh.Ollie all loved up sings a slushy romantic song to a very nonplussed Stan who really does not get it. A knock at the door brings a telegram and the news is not good,Ollie has been ceremoniously dumped by Jean,totally dejected he decides to join the French Foreign Legion to help him forget about his broken heart , naturally Stan has to join up as well. Beau Hunks starts of pretty damn good,Ollie's loved up mushy love song is horrible to the ear but funny as well,and Oliver certainly puts his soul into singing it.Stan on the other hand is for some reason cutting out an advert for fertilizer while also cutting a hole in the cushion,Stan's reply to Ollie's song is a classic,without dropping a beat he asks "what are you getting so mushy about" ,with seemingly no understanding of what Ollie is going through.This is then followed by Ollie's announcement that he is going to get married,to which Stan replies "You don't believe me",a great confusion of words that only he could deliver,this then leads to another great bit of dialogue as Stan asks "who to?" Ollie replies " Why, a woman of course. Did you ever hear of anybody marrying a man? ",its some of the best dialogue they have done.It has to be said that Ollie really knows how to play the love sick chump,while Stan manages to play it the whole scene quite unaware of Ollie's feelings and is more interested in knowing what the word levity means.The first halve of the film has some of the best dialogue and misunderstandings between the duo that has been filmed,the film suffers slightly in the second halve when they join the Legion,I don't think the French Foreign Legion lends itself to well to comedy, as anyone who has seen the film Carry on Follow That Camel,will testify to.It does include the classic where the duo come back from a long march and are sitting on there bunks,Ollie starts massaging his foot only to find he was actually massaging Stan's foot instead.Still apart from some minor niggles its a great short and highly recommended.