''Why Girls Love Sailors'' is a 1927 American comedy short

silent film A silent film is a film without synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...

directed by

Fred Guiol Fred Guiol (February 17, 1898 – May 23, 1964), pronounced "Gill," was an American film director and screenwriter. Career Guiol worked at the Hal Roach Studios for many years, first as a property man, later as assistant director and finally wri ...

for

Hal Roach Studios Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and, through its TV production subsidiary, Hal Roach Television Corporation, television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and busin ...

. It stars

Stan Laurel Stan Laurel ( ; born Arthur Stanley Jefferson; 16 June 1890 – 23 February 1965) was an English comic actor, director and writer who was in the comedy double act, duo Laurel and Hardy. He appeared with his comedy partner Oliver Hardy in 107 sh ...

and

Oliver Hardy Oliver Norvell Hardy (born Norvell Hardy; January 18, 1892 – August 7, 1957) was an American comic actor and one half of Laurel and Hardy, the double act that began in the era of silent films and lasted from 1926 to 1957. He appeared with his ...

before they had become the comedy team of

Laurel and Hardy Laurel and Hardy were a British-American double act, comedy duo during the early Classical Hollywood cinema, Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957) ...

. It was shot during February 1927 and released July 17, 1927, by

Pathé Exchange Pathé Exchange, commonly known as Pathé, was an American film production and distribution company, largely of Cinema of the United States, Hollywood's silent film, silent era. Known for its trailblazing newsreel and wide array of short film, s ...

. It was considered a

lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...

until the 1980s. Why Girls Love Sailors lobby card

Plot

The narrative commences with the loading operations aboard the vessel named the Merry Maiden, where Oliver assumes the role of the first mate, characterized as a domineering figure among the crew. Meanwhile, Stan portrays Willie Brisling, engaged to Nelly, with their affection evident. However, the captain, upon spotting Nelly, develops an interest in her, leading to a disruptive turn of events. Stan, displaying a tattoo of a ship on his chest, endeavors to thwart the captain's advances and rescue Nelly. Employing a series of stratagems, Stan seeks to eliminate the crew one by one, resorting to disguising himself to deceive them. As the plot unfolds, Nelly faces harassment from the captain, complicating matters. The unexpected arrival of the captain's wife further complicates the situation, with Stan inadvertently becoming a target of the captain's affection. A tense encounter ensues, culminating in Stan's revelation and a pivotal moment of reconciliation between the captain and his wife. However, tensions escalate once again when the captain indicates retribution against Stan. In a moment of revelation, Stan exposes the captain's wrongdoing to his wife, triggering a fatal reaction. In a sudden turn, the narrative concludes as Stan and Nelly are fatally shot, with their undergarments unveiled in the aftermath.

Cast

Production

The film marks the first appearance of Anita Garvin in a Laurel and Hardy picture; her involvement in the film was not known until the 1986 rediscovery. Deleted scenes from this film included actress

Anna May Wong Wong Liu Tsong (January 3, 1905 – February 3, 1961), known professionally as Anna May Wong, was an American actress, considered the first Chinese American film star in Hollywood, as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain internat ...

Lost film found

After its initial run in 1927 and particularly after

talkies A sound film is a Film, motion picture with synchronization, synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, bu ...

eclipsed silent films marketability, ''Why Girls Love Sailors'' went missing in the U.S. for nearly fifty years.

Cinémathèque Française A cinematheque is an archive of films and film-related objects with an exhibition venue. Similarly to a book library (bibliothèque in French), a cinematheque is responsible for preserving and making available to the public film heritage. Typically ...

had a 16mm print, which French film critic Roland Lacourbe saw in 1971, and pronounced it mediocre. Skretvedt, Randy (1996). ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies''. Beverly Hills, CA: Past Times Publishing. , p. 81. When it was finally published, it was drawn from a 16mm print in a private collection, and only due to the efforts of a private collector in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

. Laurel and Hardy author Glenn Mitchell is even less impressed by the film than was Lacourbe: "''Why Girls Love Sailors'' is one of several instances where the status of a 'lost' film has been reduced by its rediscovery," he writes.Mitchell, Glenn (1995). ''The Laurel & Hardy Encyclopedia''. London: Batsford, Ltd. , p.289. It is available in Europe on

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

and

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

releases, with reconstructed credits. In the United States, both VHS and DVD editions are out of print.

References

External links

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Stills
at lordheath.com {{Fred Guiol 1927 films 1927 comedy films 1927 short films 1920s American films 1920s LGBTQ-related films 1920s rediscovered films American black-and-white films American LGBTQ-related short films Articles containing video clips English-language comedy short films Films directed by Fred Guiol Films with screenplays by H. M. Walker Laurel and Hardy (film series) Rediscovered American films Silent American comedy short films Surviving American silent films