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Facts > Films > Pardon Us

Pardon Us (1931) Facts

Pardon Us
Director(s) James Parrott
Producer(s) Hal Roach (uncredited)
Featured Cast Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, June Marlowe, Wilfred Lucas, James Finlayson
Total Facts 6

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy's first feature-length film. Producer Hal Roach had wanted to use some of the sets left over from MGM's big-budget prison picture The Big House to do a prison-movie spoof, but discovered that it would be too expensive to make as a short subject.


Four foreign language versions were also shot: Sous les verrous (French), Hinter Schloss und Riegel (German), Muraglie (Italian) and Los presidiarios or "De Bote en Bote" (Spanish) . Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy spoke their lines phonetically, and many supporting roles were recast, including Boris Karloff playing "The Tiger" in the French version.


Several scenes were shot but deleted from the final theatrical print, which ran 56 minutes. The first ending showed the boys in gray-bearded old age reminiscing about their misadventures.


Stan and Ollie spent a lot of time in jail. In addition to this film, they were jailbirds in "The Second Hundred Years", "Hoosegow", and "Flying Deuces".


Hal Roach:  Marching in front of Oliver Hardy after his recapture.


James Parrott:  Marching next to Oliver Hardy after his recapture.

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