Sons of the Desert

Stan and Ollie want to attend their lodge's annual convention in Chicago, but neither wife will allow it. The solution is for Ollie to fake an illness so a doctor prescribes a sea voyage to Honolulu, and the two head for Chicago instead. The problem is that the ship returning from Honolulu sinks and the wives read about it in the paper. William A. Seiter directed. The whole machine runs on a lie that keeps growing, and Laurel and Hardy eventually sell each other out. The worldwide Laurel and Hardy appreciation society takes its name from this film and still calls itself Sons of the Desert. It runs just past an hour and wastes no scene. Who it is for: viewers who like classic American comedy and Laurel and Hardy. Who it is not for: anyone wanting pace, since the setups are built patiently.