Noche de Duendes (1930)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
This here is the Spanish version of THE LAUREL AND HARDY MURDER CASE and BERTH MARKS. As fans of the comedy duo know, they couldn't subtitle films back in the day so Hal Roach got the idea of having Laurel and Hardy do their films in multiple languages. Some of the later day ones are actually pretty good but this film here falls well short of both films' American versions. This is especially true for THE LAUREL AND HARDY MURDER CASE, which I've always felt was one of their best films. The biggest problem is that the duo are pretty bad with their Spanish here and it hurts many of the jokes. A lot of times it seems as if both actors are struggling to get their lines out and I think all of their attention being on the lines also hurts some of their physical humor. The BERTH MARKS sequences here are pretty much the same as the American one but just not as funny. The MURDER CASE here is quite different but it's just not nearly as funny. This here is certainly for die-hard L&H fans who want to see everything that the men did.