Leo Willis

Following their initial pairing in early 1927, Laurel and Hardy ended their first year on top. Their success moving into 1928 galvanized the efforts of everyone at Hal Roach Studios (including famed director Leo McCarey), who proudly upped their game in support of the winning comedy duo. Whether wreaking accidental havoc as a two-man band, doing battle against one another as millionaire and butler, or even becoming grave robbers for a mad scientist, Laurel and Hardy prove in their second year that they have what it takes to not only win over audiences in the twilight of the silent era, but generate enough momentum to make a successful transition to “talkies” in 1929.

Dance of the Cookoos is merged a cinematic cross section with the high points from almost 100 works of Laurel & Hardy, into an original framework action

Stan and Ollie travel with a band of 18th-century Gypsies holding a nobleman's daughter.

The Daring Young Man is hotshot-reporter Don McLane, played by James Dunn. Always on the prowl for a good story, McLane is persistently outscooped by his rival, sob sister Martha Allen (Mae Clarke). After several reels of double-crossing one another, hero and heroine give in to the inevitable and fall in love. But as Martha waits at the altar in her wedding gown, McLane is off on another crusade, this time getting himself arrested to expose corruption within the prison system.

John Nelson, a well-to-do businessman, is escorting a woman he knows as Ethel Barry to the door of her apartment suite when a man steps out of the shadows and angrily demands to know where she has been. The embarrassed Nelson excuses himself and goes to his rooms in the same hotel. The woman rushes into his apartment followed by the man who met her in the hall. The man threatens her with violence and Nelson comes to her defense. In the ensuing fight, the man is knocked out of the window and falls to his death to the pavement many stories down. He is charged with the killing and his only witness that can prove self-defense for him has disappeared, and can not be found.

Street musicians Stan and Ollie have no success earning money in the dead of winter in a bad neighborhood. Their instruments are destroyed in an argument with a woman, but their luck seems to turn when Stan finds a wallet.

The boys are a dentist and his assistant traveling to the Old West to open a new practice. Once in town, they buy a business--only to wake up the next day and see that the entire population of this bustling town had left for the California gold fields early that morning! Then, they discover an evil plot to sell out these settlers to some hostile Indians, so they spring to the rescue.

The boys boycott the girls when they insist that the boys wear tuxedos to a big dance.

Charley's in love with the daughter of a financier who wants her to insist that Chas have a pile of cash before she marries him. But, the Depression is everywhere: Charley's behind on his rent and nearly everyone he meets is down on their luck. After reading a "how to" book on the power of a forceful will, Charley applies the lessons with mixed results, but he does land a job that includes delivering a shake-down letter to his girlfriend's father. Is the naïve Charley going to end up in jail?

Fish market workers Stan and Ollie are persuaded by a sea captain to shanghai a crew for him at the local bar for a dollar a head. Successful at first, the boys end up getting themselves shanghaied, and the crew vow revenge.

An heiress with a penchant for speeding runs afoul of a traffic cop. Romance develops between the two, but it's soon complicated when he believes she is responsible for killing someone due to reckless driving.

A little orphan girl walks into the life of a hand-to-mouth carnival huckster. He teaches her the ropes and raises her as his own.

Dumped by his girlfriend, Buster drives west and winds up in a ghost town called Vulture City, where he appoints himself sheriff.

In their first comedy two-reeler of 1932, vivacious Thelma Todd and fluttery ZaSu Pitts learn that the royal seal of a foreign country has been stolen and promptly set out to catch it -- a sea lion.

A timid accountant for a California cattle ranch and a lookalike dashing bandit become rivals for the beautiful daughter of a wealthy rancher.

Street musicians Stan and Ollie have no success earning money in the dead of winter in a bad neighborhood. Their instruments are destroyed in an argument with a woman, but their luck seems to turn when Stan finds a wallet.

Brandon, a surveyor, dreams of building a railway to the west. He sets off with his son, Davy, to survey a route. They discover a new pass which will shave 200 miles off the expected distance, but they are set upon by a party of Cheyenne. One of them, a white renegade with only two fingers on his right hand, kills Brandon and scalps him. Davy is all alone now.

This funny Hal Roach comedy has Jimmy Jump (Charley Chase) waking up late for his wedding so in the mad rush he ends up leaving his house only dressed in his pajamas. As he makes his way to the church he finds one disaster after another.

Charley is plagued with failure and with his brother-in-law, who's allergic to labor. When he decides to take the family on a camping trip, his wife learns about a contest sponsored by a pen company, with the first prize being an ocean trip. To win the prize Charley has to sell those pens - surprisingly he wins, but the ship turns out to be a wreck on it's last trip to the scrapyard. To make things worse they accidentally leave their young daughter on the dock and the ship sails without her. What else can go wrong on this trip?

When Charlie borrows the policeman's uniform of his girl's father and captures a lunatic, his prospective father-in-law dons the uniform just in time to receive the reward of $1,000.

A gentle botany student has to toughen up to replace his father as chief of police.

The timid youngest son of the most important family in town must use his wits to win the respect of his strong father and the love of a beautiful new woman in town.

Mishaps befall a new home owner located next door to an insane asylum.

An irresponsible young millionaire changes his tune when he falls for the daughter of a downtown minister.

A young woman hits Hollywood, determined to become a star.

A visiting New Yorker inspires the hotel keeper toward improving his establishment.

Charley's battle-axe mother-in-law breaks up his marriage and tries to separate him from his son. Charlie abducts the boy for a father-son outing to the beach. The mother-in-law pursues and comedy ensues.

A tough New York cop is determined to bring down a crook who has always managed to provide an alibi for the crimes he's been accused of, even though the detective knows he's guilty of committing them.

Harry and his friend have planned to go out for an afternoon of fun. But first, Harry must figure out how to slip away from his domineering wife with some money to spend...

Sergeant O'Malley of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police gets himself into a gang of outlaws in order to detect and capture a wanted murderer. He finds the killer, but falls in love with the man's sister. In the meantime, one of the outlaws uncovers O'Malley's true identity.

The boys sneak out for a night on the town, unaware that Stan's wife has switched her grocery coupons for Stan's secret stash of mad money. The boys run up a huge tab treating a couple of girls to dinner at a snazzy nightclub and much trouble ensues.

The Beagles and the Hickses are two mountain families that have been feuding all their lives. The Hickses come up with a plan to get rid of their enemies once and for all by hiring two sharpshooters to finish them off. Turns out that the "sharpshooters" aren't quite all they're cracked up to be, resulting in some unintended consequences.

Jimmy Jump brings his bride to a new bungalow home, selected and furnished by him. All the neighbors come to call that first evening. The man next door is a builder who considers the construction of Jimmy's bungalow far below par. To emphasize his point he pulls down pillars, pokes holes in the floor and uproots the plumbing. When the guests depart the new house is a wreck.

Jimmie Jump is returning from Europe to the USA. His parents and an old girl-friend, Sally - whom he hasn't seen for years, are expecting him at the dock. But, due to some unfortunate coincidences they are mistaken about the identity of each other, but meet unbeknownst to that fact. Jimmie decides that he has to find that girl. Finally, after having annoyed a policeman, and a great fraction of the female population, he finds her working as a temperance worker. To get her attention, he dresses up in rags to meet her. But his way of introduction causes more confusion.

Chester Winfield tries to make it as a lumberjack, but he's foiled by his lack of strength and the jealous foreman, Big Bill Reardon, after Chester catches the eye of Hazel Wood, Big Bill's favorite and the camp's waitress. Bill tries to eliminate Chester, so he and Hazel head down the mountain for other work. She waits tables and gets him a job as a dishwasher. He spills kerosene in the soup and then must serve it to an angry customer. Hazel tells a couple of tall tales about Chester, and soon all the customers, the owner, and the cook, think he's a desperado. They make him the saloon bouncer. Some trick shooting seals his reputation. Then Big Bill arrives for a showdown.

Mark is the captain of a whaling ship and he looks down on brother Joel, who has never gone to sea. But when Mark's ship arrives in port sans its captain, Joel takes over the command. His new bride, Priscilla, insists on coming along and they head for the South Seas, where Mark was last seen.

Cavemen Stan and Ollie vie for the affections of a stone-age beauty.

Riding into a wild Western town Fred Saunders comes to the aid of the minister in recovering money stolen from the collection plate, winning the love of June, the minister's daughter in the process. Later Fred prevents the orphan boy Buddy from being trampled by a runaway horse, informally adopting him. When Carney and his gang kidnap the boy Fred rescues him uncovering the secret that Buddy is June's long-lost brother. Fred and June are married by her father.

The innocent flirtations of the two couples living in a city tenement eventually lead to a zany showdown in the court room.

Ben Trego dies defending his twin sons from Indian attack. Separated, the two boys grow up very differently, one as Paul Marsden, the other as a cowboy named Three Word Brand. Paul becomes governor of Utah while Brand partners with George Barton in a ranch. The owner of the adjacent ranch plots to get Barton and Brand out of the way in order to control water rights. When Governor Marsden comes to the area to investigate, Brand sees the resemblance between them, though neither knows about his twin. Brand waylays Paul and takes his place as governor in an attempt to thwart the crooked rancher in the water rights scheme.

The main premise for the comedy is the Jimmy discovers he can convince people he is a tough figure to be reckoned with merely by giving them a business card identifying him as the bouncer of the "Bucket of Blood Cafe."

The former gambler turned upholder of law and order after a run-in with a gang of stage robbers.

Rin-Tin-Tin is saved from the beatings of a trapper by Ed Nolan, a shiftless trapper himself, and 'Rinty" follows Nolan home to his cabin but refuses to enter. Nolan takes him to the home of Mary Mallory, the girl he has failed to win as his wife because of his ways, and in their mutual love of 'Rinty," a new understanding is born and Nolan goes to work.

A man contacts a boxer in order to get in shape.

A quiet, thoughtful soul runs up against the three roughneck sons of a small town's dictatorial mayor who all court an attractive redhead he likes. Who will she choose, and will the mayor be removed on a murder charge?

As a man travels down to New Orleans for the winter, he finds out a robbery will be taken place on Christmas night in a plantation. he helps a girl by making it available for her to marry her boyfriend.

Outlaw Black Deering leads a band of desperadoes, but decides to give up the bandit life. Agreeing to go on one last job with his gang, he is captured when his henchman Jordan betrays the gang for the reward. Deering escapes and determines to avenge himself on Jordan.

The Rent Collector is a 1921 American silent comedy film featuring Larry Semon & Oliver Hardy.

The momentous question of the day- "Should Women Drive" is hilariously answered by Max Davidson in this Hal Roach comedy.

A man starts working in a department store and has to deal with a female kleptomaniac.

After having been stood up at his own wedding, a young man vows that he will have nothing more to ever do with women. However, he soon discovers that he has been left a fortune--on condition that he gets married. Deciding that being rich and married would be preferable to being broke and single, he goes in search of a wife, but things don't turn out quite the way he planned.

The Timber Queen follows Ruth Rowland as the inheritor of a wealthy timber business who tries to stay independent of a cruel man who wants to marry her and steal her wealth. The UCLA Film and Television Archive has preserved episodes one, four, eight and nine, and distributor Harpodeon has preserved episode twelve.

To decide a wager, two young millionaires decide to take a vagrant from a lodging house and give him the name and wealth of one of the pair, to see what he will do. By mistake they seize upon a young newspaper reporter down on his luck. The reporter enters into the spirit of the idea and wins the girl of his love and gets a better job on his old paper.

When Reverend Robert Henley and his sister Faith arrive in the town of Hell's Hinges, saloon owner Silk Miller and his cohorts sense danger to their evil ways. They hire gunman Blaze Tracy to run the minister out of town. But Blaze finds something in Faith Henley that turns him around, and soon Silk Miller and his compadres have Blaze to deal with.

A small town marshal’s secret past as an outlaw comes back to haunt him when an old associate shows up and threatens to expose his former dark deeds.

A stagecoach robber falls in love with a saloon girl. However, she falls for a pastor, who converts her and she marries him. The robber is so impressed by this that he decides to turn over a new leaf. However, a shady gambler sets his sights on the former saloon girl, and the robber has to protect her from his advances.

Set during the American Civil War, Keenan stars as a Virginia colonel and Charles Ray as his weak-willed son. The son is forced, at gunpoint, by his father to enlist in the Confederate army. He is terrified by the war and deserts during a battle. The film focuses on the son's struggle to overcome his cowardice.

Jim and Molly are set to get married when Molly finds out about her fiancé's criminal past. Bill Carey weasels his way into Molly's heart in the interim, eager to relieve her of her savings.

An immigrant leaves his sweetheart in Italy to find a better life across the sea in the grimy slums of New York.

A vigilante of the west, known as "One Shot" Ross, travels east on a stage which is held up and robbed of its gold chests. Without his guns he is knocked unconscious in a hand-to-hand conflict, and is cared for by Mary, daughter of a ranch owner, whose place is near the outlaw country.