Another Fine Dress: Role-Play in the Films of Laurel and Hardy

by Jonathan Sanders

This work challenges the orthodox view of Laurel and Hardy as innocent slapstick clowns suitable mainly for children. Through a detailed, film-by-film analysis, the author reveals Stan and Ollie as complex characters whose role-play involves not only ambiguities of age and class but gender reversal and mock-eroticism as well. The book includes a concordance of gags and situations in the team's 106 movies. This book will fascinate not only Laurel and Hardy buffs but anyone interested in sexual politics and the cinema.

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1995