THE FLYING DEUCES (1939) Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy & Jean Parker | Comedy, War | 4K UHD | B&W

The Flying Deuces, also known as Flying Aces, is a 1939 buddy comedy film starring Laurel and Hardy, in which the duo join the French Foreign Legion. It is a partial remake of their short film Beau Hunks (1931).

SYNOPSIS
Ollie has fallen in love with the innkeeper's daughter in Paris. The only problem - she's very much in love with her husband. To forget her he joins the Foreign Legion with Stan. Bad idea.

During their sojourn in Paris, Ollie and Stan, temporarily distanced from their usual fish market work in Des Moines, Iowa, find themselves entangled in a romantic imbroglio. Ollie becomes enamored with Georgette, the daughter of an innkeeper, yet remains oblivious to her matrimonial ties to Francois, a Foreign Legion officer. Rejected by Georgette due to her existing marital commitment, Ollie experiences despondency, contemplating drastic measures until he is dissuaded by Stan's musings on reincarnation. Following Francois' suggestion, the duo enlists in the Foreign Legion, purportedly to alleviate Ollie's romantic woes.

Their legionnaire duties entail menial labor, met with resistance owing to their aversion to the meager wages offered. Subsequently sentenced to rigorous tasks, Ollie gradually relinquishes his romantic affliction amid the toil. Eventually, disillusioned by their laborious predicament, they incite chaos, inadvertently setting the laundry ablaze before expressing their disdain through a defiant letter.

Encounters with Georgette reignite Ollie's hopes, leading to a misunderstanding culminating in his arrest upon Francois' revelation of Georgette's marital status. Sentenced to death for desertion, Ollie and Stan find themselves incarcerated, their fate seemingly sealed until a fortuitous escape opportunity emerges. Inadvertent actions by Stan, however, divert their path to Francois' abode, igniting a pursuit culminating in an airborne escapade that concludes with Stan encountering a talking horse, purportedly embodying Ollie's reincarnated spirit.

CAST & CREW
Stan Laurel as Stan
Oliver Hardy as Ollie
Jean Parker as Georgette
Reginald Gardiner as Francois
Charles Middleton as Commandant
Jean Del Val as Sergeant
Clem Wilenchick as Corporal
James Finlayson as Jailor

Directed by A. Edward Sutherland
Written by Ralph Spence, Charley Rogers, Fred Schiller, Harry Langdon
Produced by Boris Morros
Cinematography Art Lloyd
Edited by Jack Dennis
Music by John Leipold, Leo Shuken
Production company Boris Morros Productions
Distributed by RKO Radio Pictures
Release date November 3, 1939
Running time 69 min
Country United States
Language English

NOTES
As Laurel and Hardy did not have an exclusive contract with Hal Roach, they were able to appear in films for other studios as they pleased. A remake of Beau Hunks, The Flying Deuces was released by RKO Radio Pictures and was made by independent producer Boris Morros. Director A. Edward Sutherland and Stan Laurel did not get along during filming, with Sutherland having reportedly commented that he "would rather eat a tarantula than work with Laurel again".

At the beginning of the film, the innkeeper's daughter is seen looking at a framed photograph of Ollie. The same photograph can also be seen in the short film Our Wife (1931), where the sight of it prompts the father of Ollie's fiancé to forbid the wedding.

The "laundry scene" in The Flying Deuces was filmed on the Iverson Movie Ranch in the Chatsworth section of Los Angeles, California, considered to be the most often used outdoor shooting location for films and television shows. In the scene, the characters played by Laurel and Hardy, having disrupted training camp soon after joining the Foreign Legion, are forced to do a massive amount of laundry—seemingly the laundry for the entire Foreign Legion. For the shoot, a facsimile of a huge pile of laundry was built on top of one of the giant sandstone boulders of Iverson's Garden of the Gods, which is now a park. Aerial footage of the scene, including a large spread consisting of laundry hanging on lines, was shot for the movie, and was used briefly in the final flying scene as the set-up for a gag where the pair's cockpit is pelted with laundry. The footage later turned up in a number of other productions, including the Republic serials Manhunt of Mystery Island (1945) and Radar Patrol vs. Spy King (1949), along with the Allied Artists movie The Cyclops (1957).

The Flying Deuces is one of two Laurel and Hardy features in the public domain; the other is Atoll K. As such, it regularly appears as part of inexpensive DVD or video compilations. Turner/Warner Bros. currently possesses the original negative but has not released the film.