Consider this prospect: Laurel & Hardy & Company are cavemen in furry pelts, running around in a remote canyon somewhere enacting what amounts to a silent version of The Flintstones. It doesn't seem to promise much in the way of great comedy, does it? A capsule summary of Flying Elephants might elicit groans from those who haven't seen it, and, what with comedy being so subjective and personal, there are probably plenty who've seen it and dismissed it as silly, juvenile, low-brow, etc. All I can say is: okay, guilty as charged, but I confess I really enjoy this movie anyway. Whatever else it may be, this two-reeler also happens to be quirky, fast-paced and off-the-wall, with a surreal wackiness that other comedians occasionally attempt but only rarely achieve. The Marx Brothers managed it in Duck Soup and for short stretches elsewhere, and the Fleischer Studio guys and Tex Avery made some cartoons that reached this level, but Flying Elephants is one of a kind. You can't just crank out stuff like this; the charming weirdness would wear thin pretty quickly.
Although Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy each appear prominently, Flying Elephants isn't really a "Laurel & Hardy" comedy as such. At the time this was made they were working together a lot but hadn't yet gelled as the team we recognize. Babe Hardy's performance is quite funny and oddly consistent with his later work; his special rhythms, gestures and expressions are there, despite the wig and the animal pelt he's wearing. But Mr. Laurel is the one who really gets freaky, hopping about in a curly blonde wig like a sissified Harpo Marx. The name of his character, Little Twinkle Star, tells the tale. It's anomalous in his career but nonetheless one of Stan's most energized and memorable turns, and a revelation to anyone who thinks he's a one-note performer. Stan has a fly-fishing sequence that is a comic high point, and it's just the sort of eccentric routine he could make his own.
Much of the plot-- such as it is --concerns courtship and marriage rituals among these cave dwellers. The movie begins with an absurd wedding ceremony which sets the tone for what follows. We learn that a royal decree has compelled the males to take wives, although, come to think of it, you wouldn't expect people in animal pelts to care much about formal nuptials. Much of the dialog (conveyed via title cards, of course) is in a strange, pseudo-Medieval slang. There are gags involving trained goats, animated fantasy beasts, a man in a bear suit, and an animal (a cow, perhaps?) disguised as a dinosaur. Speaking of dinosaurs good old Jimmy Finlayson is on hand, identified as a "wizard" apparently to justify a vulgar but funny pun utilizing the word. A decided bonus for modern viewers is the supporting cast of cute starlets in abbreviated cave flapper outfits, complete with bobbed hair, furry boots, and garters. A gorgeous young actress named Viola Richard plays Finlayson's daughter, Blushing Rose, and her close-ups can melt your heart decades after the fact. Viola seems to have vanished from the screen not long after this film was made, for some baffling reason.
Oh well. There are still prints of Flying Elephants around to amuse, amaze, and tickle those viewers open to this sort of thing.
