Search - Utopia on DVD

MPAA Rating: NR Content Advisory: Suitable for Children Movie Release: 1950 DVD Release: 02/01/2000 Format: DVD - Black and White Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 1 hrs 23 mins Studio: Madacy Total Copies: 1 Genres: Comedy, Adventure Comedy See Also: Utopia, Utopia, The Laurel & Hardy Collection: Utopia

In their very last feature film, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy travel to London so that Stan can claim his uncle's inheritance. All of the cash has been eaten up by taxes, but at least Stan is able to claim a tax-free island and yacht that his uncle has left him. Boarding the yacht (actually a run-down tub) in Marseilles, Stan and Ollie set sail for their island in the company of stateless refugee Max Elloy, who signs on as a cook, and Italian bricklayer Adriano Rimoldi, a stowaway. The little party is nearly torn to bits by a storm at sea, but the yacht runs safely aground on a newly formed atoll. Its population is increased to five when nightclub singer Suzy Delair, fleeing her domineering naval-officer fiancé Luigi Tosi, takes refuge with the other castaways. Laurel & Hardy and their friends live an idyllic, Robinson Crusoe-like existence until Delair's fiancé shows up. He announces he hasn't come to claim her, but to investigate reports that the atoll is rich with uranium. Indeed it is, and soon every nation in the world is clamoring to claim the island's radioactive deposits. Laurel and Hardy take quick action, declaring sovereignty over "Crusoeland." They then devise an anarchic government over which Ollie presides. Stan is relegated to the position of "The People." Comical chaos reigns when their "no laws, no taxes" policies attract the attention of various unsavory types, including rabble-rouser Michael Dalmatoff. Filmed over a period of 12 months, this expensive Franco-Italian co-production suffers from a too-complex plot, lazy direction, poor voice-over dubbing of the largely European supporting cast, and especially the horrible physical condition of Laurel, who was suffering from several life-threatening illnesses during filming. Fortunately, he regained his health after the production wrapped, as proven by his hale-and-hearty appearance on a 1954 installment of TV's This Is Your Life. Though some disciples of Laurel and Hardy will have a great deal of difficulty sitting through Atoll K, it does contain a few isolated moments of pantomimic brilliance and first-rate sight gags. Originally running 98 minutes, Atoll K was judiciously pruned down to 82 minutes for its English-language release. In Great Britain, the film was titled Robinson Crusoeland, while it was released as Utopia in America. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Stan Laurel - Himself
Oliver Hardy - Himself
Suzy Delair - Cherie Lamour
Max Elloy - Kokken Antoine

This budget-priced release of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's final film together is a fairly good presentation of the movie, which has long been out of copyright in the United States. The movie was always a somewhat choppy, slightly threadbare looking piece, in keeping with its chaotic production history involving a director, cast, and crew drawn from a half-dozen countries and some fairly shaky financing and distribution. The image is fairly clean, reasonably sharp, and offers decent contrast, despite coming from a source that has faded to some extent. The audio is stable and fairly loud, and all of the dialogue and narration can be understood, within the limitations of the original dubbing in the film source. The movie has been broken down into seven well placed chapters that map out the plot effectively, and the supplements are almost non-existent -- but for a six-dollar list price, this flaw can be overlooked. The packaging shows a surprising degree of care, delineating the cast and range of characters far better than the credits of the movie itself , and overall there are distinctly poorer ways of seeing this underrated film. ~ Bruce Eder, All Movie Guide