Laurel & Hardy: Brats

Here the stars played double roles for the first time — themselves and their own sons, for whom they are babysitting while the wives are out. The inviting play-land set for the diminutive pair features gigantic props and furniture built exactly three times scale. Studio alumni remembered seeing those huge, surreal props all around the lot throughout the 1930s, until the government turned it into Fort Roach for World War II. BRATS was reissued in 1937 with new incidental background music commissioned and mixed “wall-to-wall. ” This remained the only version in circulation for many years. Upon locating the lost Vitaphone disc recordings of the original 1930 soundtrack, we now have a chance to see and hear how different music scoring completely changes the movie’s pacing and character. Directed by James Parrott.