Film Forum

Rare screenings of two of Laurel and Hardy’s “alternate language versions” of two of their best shorts, both expanded with added musical numbers and vaudeville acts (including Hadji Ali, “The Regurgitator”, one of the most bizarre acts of all time). The team’s Spanish speaking voices are not dubbed — they actually speak the language, supported by a cast of native speakers, including the fiery Mexican actress Linda Loredo (replacing Anita Garvin, the wife in the English versions), who plays Ollie’s wife in both films. We have created English subtitles especially for the screening. These will be projected “live” by translator Teresa Ross Tellechea. 

POLITIQUERÍAS
U.S., 1931
Directed by James W. Horne
Starring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Enrique Acosta, Linda Loredo, Hadji Ali (The Regurgitator)
Spanish language version of Chickens Come Home, expanded to feature length
English subtitles created especially for this screening
Approx. 56 min. 35mm preservation print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.

With

La Vida Nocturna
U.S., 1930
Directed by James Parrots
Starring Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Linda Loredo
Spanish language version of Blotto, expanded to featurette length
Approx. 38 min. 35mm print courtesy UCLA Film & Television Archive

Presented with support from The Robert Jolin Osborne Endowed Fund for American Classic Cinema of the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s and The Robert E. Appel Fund for Spanish and Portuguese Language Films