Watch Mud and Sand For Free

You won't be disappointed!

Wonderful character development!

I like movies that are aware of what they are selling... without [any] greater aspirations than to make people laugh and that's it.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Ever since Hal Roach had the idea of teaming a skinny guy and a fat guy together for a Mutt and Jeff effect on the silent screen a lot forget that both Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy had some prominent careers as singles on the silent screen, Stan being more well known than Ollie at the time. Mud And Sand gives us a look at a Laurel specialty, spoofing some well known silent cinema classics.I've not seen the Rudolph Valentino version of Blood And Sand, but I have seen the Tyrone Power sound version, in fact it's a favorite of mine among Power's work. And as Power was known to have a sense of humor if he ever saw Mud And Sand I'm sure he would have appreciated it.For a solemn and tragic tale Stan Laurel certainly mined quite a few laughs out of it. There is a marvelous gag with a bull being tossed over the Corrida wall while Stan is auditioning to be a matador. I think it might have inspired the Monty Python troupe in their quest for the Holy Grail.If you're looking for Stanley to be the Laurel we know from the Laurel And Hardy films forget it. That was a character that Stan worked into to complement Ollie's bulk and know it all attitude. Stan works in broad satire in Mud And Sand as he did with a few silent screen classics. And his scenes with the wife and temptress are something else as well. I've got to make it a point to see more of Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy's work before they were a team. Hope the rest of you will as well.

This Stan Laurel flick was a parody of Rudolph Valentino's Blood and Sand, and so might be funnier if you're familiar with the original film. I've never seen it, so many of the gags here left me cold. A young Stan Laurel tries manfully to make a go of it but doesn't yet possess the necessary star quality to pull this one off and flounders amidst a wealth of unfunny scenes.He plays a character called Rhubarb Vaseline (think about it…), and we are first introduced to him as he strolls down a lane hand in hand with his bullfighting friend. Hmmm, definitely something effeminate about our Rhubarb – I can't imagine what point the writers were trying to make. There are a few good sight gags – the dance scene is probably the funniest – and an endless play on the word 'bull' before the end credits roll after nearly forty minutes, but overall this one isn't very good.

One of the many silent comedies Stan Laurel featured in before he teamed with Oliver Hardy, 'Mud and Sand' is a ho-hum hokum. The story is badly disjointed - though this could be because of the modern-day edit - and the humor itself is not at all inventive.Potential plotlines are started and ignored; for instance, Stan's promise to make Fillet de Sole pay for what she's done to him never comes to fruition. Stan's character doesn't seem very centered, either, but this is a common criticism of his work before he developed 'Stanley' of Laurel & Hardy fame, so it might be that I was just expecting to see this shortcoming.I strongly believe that all the silent films should be preserved and viewed, and I'm glad this one is still available. It's just not a great film.

When I saw this movie for the first time I didn't believe my own eyes. In front of me there was a great -and well done- parody of Valentino... see Stan Laurel bullfight that way is like to see an excellent fencer in action! It's a very good parody, rich of ideas, with a clever and charming Stan... old and good like whiskey. (or the booze-up after that)