Sons of the Desert

Cinephile deep dive

The take

William A. Seiter directs. Kenneth Peach behind the camera. Bert Jordan cuts. Runs lean at under 100 minutes. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Tight 65-minute runtime — shorter than most television pilots.
• 293 years old — a genuine piece of film history.
• 3Directed by William A. Seiter, shot by Kenneth Peach. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 4Editor Bert Jordan shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 5Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy and Mae Busch carry the top of the cast.
• 6Marketing tagline: "THEIR NEW FULL-LENGTH FEATURE PICTURE!".
• 7IMDB entry: tt0024601 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 8Classified under 11 themes, including "husband wife relationship", "deceived wife", "deception", "pre-code".
• 9Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Kenneth Peach

Editing

Bert Jordan

Runtime

65 min · 1h 5m

Status

Released

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

NR

IMDB

Sons of the Desert (1933) ↗

Also by

William A. Seiter

• 
  That Night with You

  1945 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Synthetic Sin

  1929 · ★ 10.0
• 
  The Daring Young Man

  1935 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Rolling Home

  1926 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Outcast

  1928 · ★ 10.0
• 
  Out All Night

  1927 · ★ 10.0

Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  SONS OF THE DESERT 1933 Trailer

  Trailer

Community reviews

What people are saying

• John Chard2015-08-27
  ★ 9/10

  Honolulu Baby! As members of the mason mens club The Sons Of The Desert, Stan & Ollie are desperate to go away to one of the clubs conventions in Chicago. This idea is given the no no from the boys' wives {Mae Busch & Dorothy Christy}, so Ollie fakes ill health and the boys wangle a supposed sea voyage to aid his recovery. Of course they head to Chicago for their boys own fun, unbeknown to them that the ship they had told their wives they were travelling on has sunk at sea! I think this stands the test of time as one of the best Laurel & Hardy pictures because it's one of the most professional that they made. Laurel wasn't wholly satisfied with a couple of preceding features that they did, he felt it was becoming slapstick for slapstick's sake, so in came a new writing team to work with him to give us a tighter character driven laugh fest. The films main triumph is the integration and impact of the wives, they add greatly to the comedy with sparky dialogue and visual madness. So many great moments that I don't wish to point any single one out, you just need to see it and enjoy. The songs are fun, the narrative is as tidy as they would do, and the underlying honesty is the best policy message is one we all should heed. 9/10

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• HA

  Hal Roach Studios

  US

Key crew

• ProducerHal Roach
• EditorBert Jordan
• MusicO'Donnell-Heath
• MusicGeorge M. Cohan
• MusicPaul Marquardt
• MusicLeroy Shield
• SoundLouis H. Tolhurst
• MusicWilliam Axt
• CastingLawrence Tarver
• Stunt DoubleHam Kinsey
• Assistant DirectorLloyd French
• Assistant DirectorChet Brandenburg
• ContinuityByron Morgan
• Sound RecordistHarry Baker
• MusicMarvin Hatley

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• husband wife relationship
• deceived wife
• deception
• pre-code
• next door neighbor
• domineering wife
• convention
• subterfuge
• best friends
• farcical
• ridiculous

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical1933-12-29NR

Also known as

International titles

• Les compagnons de la NoubaFR
• Laurel & Hardy - Die WüstensöhneDE
• Die WüstensöhneDE
• Os Filhos do DesertoBR
• Öknens sönerSE
• Helan och Halvan på rymmenSE
• Fraternally YoursGB
• Gøg og Gokke: Ørkenens sønnerDK
• Laurel et Hardy - Les Compagnons de la noubaFR
• Περιπέτεια στη ΧονολουλούGR
• Οι Γιοι της ΕρήμουGR
• Infame LügnerDE
• 沙漠之子CN
• Hijos del desiertoAR