Atoll K
Atoll K | |
---|---|
Directed by | Léo Joannon John Berry (uncredited) |
Written by | John D. Klorer Frederick Kohner Piero Tellini René Wheeler |
Produced by | Raymond Eger |
Starring | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy Suzy Delair |
Cinematography | Armand Thirard |
Edited by | Raymond Isnardon |
Music by | Paul Misraki |
Distributed by | Franco London Films (France) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 100 minutes
|
Countries | France Italy |
Languages | French Italian English |
Atoll K is a 1951 Franco-Italian
Plot
Stan claims an inheritance left by his affluent uncle, significantly diminished by taxes and legal fees, leaving him cash-poor but with a dilapidated yacht and a private island in the South Seas. Stan and Ollie sail for the island alongside Antoine, a stateless refugee, and Giovanni Copini, an Italian stone mason hiding aboard the boat.
During the voyage, the engine fails. Ollie's attempts to repair it prove futile, due to Stan's inadvertent mishandling of the components. Forced to use the sail, the crew contends with a storm at sea, which strands the boat on an uncharted island. The four sailors cultivate the land and settle into a comfortable lifestyle.
An indefinite time passes, and nightclub singer Chérie Lamour is fleeing her possessive fiancé, navy lieutenant Jack Frazer. A sympathetic sailor offers to escort her ashore, but his suspicious wife casts her adrift at gunpoint, and Cherie heads for land -- Laurel & Hardy's island. The four men are enchanted by Cherie, and she becomes their guest.
Stan and Ollie, still smarting from their heavy taxation, decide to establish their own government so that no other country can claim the island. Inspired by Robinson Crusoe, they call their island Crusoeland, and declare no laws, taxes, and immigration restrictions.
News of the new, wide-open country attracts hordes of people. The discovery of uranium results in global interest, culminating in a tumultuous revolt to displace the island's founders. The four male castaways are about to be hanged when another violent storm erupts, causing the new arrivals to flee the island.
Antoine goes back to France as a stateless person; Giovanni returns to Italy, where he builds fences. Cherie and Lt. Frazer finally get married in a quarrelsome ceremony. This leaves Stan and Ollie alone at last, enjoying the peace and quiet -- until a government official and his crew confiscate our heroes' goods and provisions, citing non-payment of taxes.
Cast
- Stan Laurel as Stan
- Oliver Hardy as Ollie
- Suzy Delair as Chérie Lamour
- Max Elloy as Antoine
- English-dubbed voice by Paul Frees
- Suzet Maïs as Mrs. Dolan
- Adriano Rimoldi as Giovanni Copini
- Luigi Tosi as Lt. Jack Frazer
- Michael Dalmatoff as Alecto
- Claude May as Miss Pringle
- André Randall as Phineas Bramwell
- Robert Vattier as Yves Bonnefoy
- Vittorio Caprioli as Pietro Poltroni
- Lucien Callamand as Harbor official
- Olivier Hussenot as Monsieur Bonnet
- Guglielmo Barnabò as Giovanni's employer
- Philippe Richard as Manager of the Cacatoes Club
- Félix Oudart as Mayor and Registrar of Papeete
- Titys as Deputy to the Mayor
- Palmyre Levasseur as Wife of the Registrar
- Robert Murzeau as Captain Mike Dolan
- Henri Cote as Surveyor
- Charles Lemontier as Senior official
- Maurice Pierrat as French radio announcer
- Hans Verner as German radio announcer
- Jean Maxime as Sailor in the Café Crusoe
- Nicolas Amato as Rub-Out Raymond
- Guy Henri as Alecto's henchman
- Joé Davray as Alecto's henchman
- Roger Legris as Higgins
- Hubert Deschamps as Policeman on the island[1]
Production
In the late 1940s, Laurel and Hardy were without film employment. Earlier in the decade, they ended their long association with producer
The production of Atoll K was plagued with many problems that caused the making of the film to run nine months beyond its projected schedule of twelve weeks. Ida Laurel, Stan Laurel's widow, told biographer John McCabe, "I'm hardly likely to forget the date we left for France and the date we returned – April 1, 1950, and April 1, 1951. But there was no April Fooling about that terrible year. That bloody picture was supposed to take twelve weeks to make, and it took twelve months."[2]
From the beginning, there were disagreements on the film's screenplay. Laurel was unhappy with the heavily political storyline envisioned by French director
During the production, the two comedy stars were battling serious health issues. Laurel's pre-existing
While in France, Hardy saw his already hefty frame expand to 330 pounds and he required medical care for an irregular heartbeat and a severe case of the
When they were able to work, Laurel and Hardy saw their relationship with Joannon deteriorate rapidly. Ida Laurel would later claim Joannon was an incompetent director who spent three days filming a lake because, as she said, "it was the most photogenic lake he'd ever seen."[2] In the middle of the production, US film director John Berry was quietly brought in to work with the team. Berry's American career had been derailed by the Hollywood blacklist and he sought to start over in France. However, his participation was kept secret out of the fear that the film would not get a theatrical release in America if it became known that a blacklisted director was at its helm.[1] Berry's contribution was not publicly acknowledged until 1967, when film historian William K. Everson cited the uncredited director's input in his book The Films of Laurel and Hardy.[5] While Berry never publicly acknowledged his work on Atoll K, the film's leading lady Suzy Delair confirmed his participation during an interview with historian Norbert Aping.[1]
Theatrical release
The theatrical release of Atoll K was confusing and erratic. There was never one definitive version of the film but, rather, six different edits available: a 98-minute British version titled Atoll K, viewed only at British premieres in September, 1951; a 93-minute French version released in October 1951; an 87-minute German version released in December 1951; a 97-minute Italian version called Atollo K; an 82-minute British version called Robinson Crusoeland, released in the United Kingdom in September 1952; and another 82-minute version (edited differently from Robinson Crusoeland) titled Utopia, which premiered in the United States in December, 1954.[6] In the American and British versions, Laurel and Hardy spoke their dialogue in English, as originally recorded, while the French and Italian actors' voices were dubbed in English. The other international versions were presented with the entire soundtracks in their respective languages (all French, all German, all Italian).
In the countries where the various versions played, critical reaction to the film was only fair to poor. The French newspaper Journal du Dimanche complained: "What in hell lured Laurel and Hardy onto this atoll? Unfortunately, this adventure adds nothing to their fame." Italian critic Paolo Locori, writing for the magazine Hollywood, stated: "Stan and Ollie's presence is not enough to lift the movie from its mediocrity." The British Kinematograph Weekly stated the film was "bogged down in a welter of obvious slapstick." When Utopia ultimately played in Los Angeles in early 1955 as a double feature with Blackboard Jungle, Los Angeles Times critic Philip K. Scheuer wrote, "Some of their misadventures en route are nostalgically amusing, but thereafter the comedy deteriorates as rapidly as their fortunes... It is all too plain that Utopia is destined to be the last of the Laurel and Hardy comedies. For the many happy hours they have given us, our grateful thanks."[7]
Copyright status and availability
Over the years, the prints of three of the six versions have degraded. No U.S. copyright was filed for Utopia[8] and the English-dialogue version lapsed into the public domain, resulting in inferior film reprints and video versions. Until recently, the only known print of the original 98-minute English-language version was in private hands and this version has never been released on video. However, on January 1, 2012, the French/German TV station ARTE aired a restored 100-minute English version of the film, claiming an international television premiere. The restored copy is based on a copy rediscovered in 2010 in the United States.[9][10] It was released to DVD by Fun Factory Films on January 3, 2013.
Truncated 85/88-minute prints available in Italy on VHS and DVD are all that remain of the Italian version. The original French Atoll K was released on VHS in 1996.[1] On October 10, 2012, the French version of the film was released by Gaumont à la demande on DVD.
In 2018, a 93-minute Blu-ray version of Atoll K was released in the UK (Region B only).[11] The film has also been televised in the U.S. (edited to fit a 90-minute time slot and using the Utopia title) by the Movies! network as part of its Saturday morning Laurel and Hardy Show series, first syndicated in 1986.
References
- Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Aping 2008
- ^ ISBN 978-0-940410-23-7.
- ^ a b Hall, Phil. "Review of 'The Final Film of Laurel and Hardy'." Archived 2015-11-29 at the Wayback Machine EDGE Boston. Retrieved: March 21, 2010.
- ^ McGarry 1992, p. 73.
- ^ Everson 1967, p. 210.
- ISBN 978-1-4401-7239-7
- ^ MacGillivray, p. 213.
- ISBN 9780786451746. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
- ^ "Atoll K." German ARTE Programming guide. Retrieved: January 1, 2012.
- ^ "Atoll K." French ARTE Programming guide. Retrieved: January 1, 2012.
- ^ "Atoll K Blu-ray (Blu-ray + DVD) (United Kingdom)".
- Bibliography
- Aping, Norbert. The Final Film of Laurel and Hardy: A Study of the Chaotic Making and Marketing of Atoll K. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2008. ISBN 978-0-7864-3302-5.
- Bowers, Judith. Stan Laurel and Other Stars of the Panopticon: The Story of the Britannia Music Hall. Edinburgh: Birlinn Ltd, 2007. ISBN 1-84158-617-X.
- ISBN 0-8065-0146-4.
- Louvish, Simon. Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy. London: Faber & Faber, 2001. ISBN 0-571-21590-4.
- ISBN 978-1-4401-7239-7.
- Marriot, A.J. Laurel & Hardy: The British Tours. Hitchen, Herts, UK: AJ Marriot, 1993. ISBN 0-9521308-0-7.
- ISBN 1-86105-781-4.
- McCabe, John with Al Kilgore and Richard W. Bann. Laurel & Hardy. New York: Bonanza Books, 1983, first edition 1975, E.P. Dutton. ISBN 978-0-491-01745-9.
- McGarry, Annie. Laurel & Hardy. London: Bison Group, 1992. ISBN 0-86124-776-0.
External links
- Atoll K at IMDb
- Utopia at the TCM Movie Database
- Atoll K at AllMovie
- Atoll K at Rotten Tomatoes
- Atoll K is available for free viewing and download at the Internet Archive (As Utopia)