Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Eve's Love Letters - 1927


Country: United States
Language: English
Director: Leo McCarey
Writer: Stan Laurel (story)
Stars: Stan Laurel, Agnes Ayres and Forrest Stanley
Release Date: 29 May 1927 (USA)
Production Co: Hal Roach Studios
Sound Mix: Silent
Color: Black and White
Genres: Comedy | Short
The film begins with a quotation from Mark Twain: "Man was made first – Woman came after him – and she's been after him ever since." Eve (Agnes Ayres) gets a letter from her ex lover, Sir Oliver Hardy (Jerry Mandy), where he threatens to show her husband, Adam, the burning love letters she wrote to him before she married, unless she pays $10 000.
Eve and Anatole, the butler (Stan Laurel), go to steal the love letters from Oliver Hardy but Adam (Forrest Stanley) in the meanwhile finds out she has gone. He suspects she has been unfaithful and goes home to Hardy to see if she is there. The film turns in to a wonderful slap stick after that where Eve does her best to play on Adam. One of her tricks is to dress the butler up as a woman. The butler makes a pass on Adam, who seems interested. Adam and Eve try to pass the blame from there on, until Adam finds out about the tricks and forgives Eve.
Eve is here in a familiar role of the temptress/trickster. The snake (Oliver Hardy) is almost immediately out of the picture. Where to lay the blame is the main plot of the film. Both are guilty and harmony can not be reached before both admit that, at least to them selves. There is therefore no fall in the film, only temporary crisis. Adam and Eve are in a way prototypes of married couples and the troubles they run into.
Trivia
The unseen character of the blackmailer/former lover is named Sir Oliver Hardy. 

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