Utopia

I could almost wish this movie had not been made. Stan Laurel was dying, and it shows in his face, even more angular and gaunt than usual. A poor script, and inept supporting cast.

I never want to see this movie again! Not only is it dreadfully bad, but I can't stand seeing my hero Stan Laurel looking so old and sick. Mostly I can't stand watching this terrible movie! Frankly, there is no reason to watch this awful film. The plot is just plain stupid. The actors that surround Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are really really bad and Laurel and Hardy have been funnier in any of their earlier films! I warn you don't watch it, the images will haunt you for a long while to come!

For new L&H fans, Stan and Ollie's appearance may be a shock. Stan looks VERY thin and has noticeably aged. Ollie, in contrast, has gained a LOT of weight. If you can overlook their appearance, and the slow moving subplot, Atoll K does have some good comedy routines. However, their more elderly appearance does hamper what would otherwise be good gags. You just can't laugh at Stan while he is dealing with an inflating raft in the ship's cabin. He looks like he's truly in agony, and you want to help him instead of laugh at him. Also, the film is poorly edited. The original movie was 90 minutes long, but when re-released, it was shortened to a more tolerable 60 minutes. Most of the footage taken out was from the subplot, so taking out the extra half hour improved the movie. While "The Boys" had more freedom to write gags and dialogue, nobody else on the crew had any idea what to expect in a L&H picture. Confusion and the illness of Stan and Ollie caused the picture to take an entire year to make! Not long after Atoll K was released, Ollie went on a diet and lost a LOT of weight, but it was too late.

The movie is not halve as bad as people want to make you believe it is. What is the reason why so many people hate this movie? Is it because it's Laurel & Hardy's last one together and it's not their best? Or is it because of the lack of Laurel & Hardy regulars? Or because it's not made by the Hal Roach studios or 20th Century Fox? Definitely true that this movie is not a successful attempt to revive Laurel & Hardy and bring them to the '50's. It's also definitely true that the movie is far from their best but honestly, the movie still entertains well, making this movie also far from their worst. Not the most worthy 'goodbye' movie imaginable but an entertaining and suiting goodbye nevertheless. Both of them retired from movies after completing this one. The movie still features some great slapstick moments and the chemistry between Laurel & Hardy is obviously still very much present. It also makes this movie better than most of their movies together from the '40's. Quite a surprise that the slapstick humor still works out as great as it does, considering that the days of slapstick comedy had been over, ever since the '30's. The story is perhaps not as entertaining as it could had been and it features too many sidekicks and characters, with as a result that the movie looses its focus on the boys at times. A shame, because they are still the ones that really carry and make the movie. Sad to see in what poor form Stan Laurel was at the time of making this movie. He really looked ill and old, which he also of course was. He was well over 60 years old already. But after a surgery he fully recovered and still lived for another 15 years, before dying in 1965, 8 years after his good friend Oliver Hardy. An entertaining, though not perfect goodbye to the boys, Laurel & Hardy and the end of 3 decades of fun, humorous, quality slapstick entertainment of movies that are still being watched and loved by people all over the world. 7/10 http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/

This film has the unfortunate distinction of being Laurel & Hardy's last film together. Though, it is true, you can see how ill Stan was and how age was ravishing both, it is NOT true that they had lost their charm. There are bits in this film that I found every bit as funny as those in the L&H heyday. Give it an honest try. I think you'll find this movie is unjustly maligned.

"Atoll K" aka "Utopia" is one of Hollywood's saddest swan songs. Filmed in France in 1950 and released the following year after a five-year layoff, Laurel & Hardy are in bad shape physically. However, they aren't in nearly as bad a shape as the script. This movie is one of the un-funniest "comedies" I've seen & that's a real shame. It's painful to see this legendary team, the funniest duo in the history of motion pictures, the twosome that made "The Devil's Brother"(1933), "The Music Box," (1932),"Pack Up Your Troubles" (also 1932), "Babes In Toyland" (1934), "Bonnie Scotland" (1935), "Flying Deuces" (1939) and so many more gut-wrenching, laugh-til-you-choke classic comedies, in a film such as this. Fighters and ballplayers do it all the time: they stay in the game one season or one fight too many. In this case, while it's morbidly fascinating to see Laurel & Hardy at this late stage in their legendary careers, they, too, stuck around for just one too many.

***SPOILERS FOR THE SPOILED*** 'Utopia' (AKA 'Atoll K') is widely reviled by Laurel & Hardy fans. Being a fan of the Boys, myself, I had to find this stinker and see what was wrong with it. For the most part, very little is wrong, except for atrocious overdubbing, and Stan's appearance. He filmed this movie while in the throes of illness, and it really shows. He looks horribly drawn - actually, he looks drawn and quartered - but he soldiers on, playing the man-child character we know him best as. Similarly, while Babe Hardy is definitely aging and carrying more weight than in the team's glory days, his characterization is just as wonderful as ever. There are plenty of instances in this film where classic L&H humor takes over, such as the dinner scene in the cabin of the boat, or the cargo-loading sequence. The Boys are consistently in-character and deliver their lines with their usual spark. Knowing the story of the production of Utopia, it's amazing to me that they managed to grind out a movie, at all, let alone one that stayed true to Laurel & Hardy's long-established characters. As bad is it is, Utopia captures, for the last time on film, the essential sweetness of the Boys, and while I wouldn't recommend it as a 'great' Laurel & Hardy film, I wouldn't warn people away from it. My only real problem is with the ending. I'm one who does get tired of the stereotypical happy ending, but this is a COMEDY. The bad guys should get their comeuppance, and the good guys should win in the end. That's the way of comedy. Even the Great Stone Face, Buster Keaton, played to this rule. Though his characters sometimes wound up losing the game, you got the sense that they weren't daunted or hurt by it. In Utopia, our sweet girl winds up marrying the smarmy jackass she was running from, our stowaway stone mason winds up with his dreams crushed, building fences, the man who only wanted a country to call his own winds up killed and eaten, and the Boys themselves are stranded on an island with all their food and supplies stolen. It's just too sad, for a comedy. This film is usually found in the bargain bin, and it's worth that kind of price to see the Boys' last film, together. Don't expect miracles, but I found quite a few laughs in it.

source: Utopia

Trailer—Atoll K

Atoll K