(wikipedia)UTOPIA-(aka ATOLL K)-1951-In London, Laurel & Hardy (themselves) inherit a rundown yacht to take them to an island they also inherited. A “stateless man” Antoine (Max Elloy) goes along as their cook. There's also a stowaway named Giovanni (Adriano Rimoldi). They encounter a storm and are stranded on an atoll. Then a narrator explains how the 4 survive.
In Tahiti, Cherie LaMour (Suzy Delair), a singer, planned to marry a Lieutenant but their engagement is broken. To get away, LaMour goes to the atoll too. After the men all try to impress her, her boyfriend shows up to survey the land. Uranium is found on the tiny island, so in order to keep the island for themselves they dub the atoll “Crusoeland” and make a constitution with Hardy as the president. When the rest of the world finds out about Crusoeland, which has no laws, no taxes and no jails, among other things, folks flock to the island.
This political satire fails badly but the worst part is Stan Laurel who looks terrible having many health complications. Oliver Hardy also fell ill. The movie was a sordid production with language barriers and a shooting schedule of 12 weeks that ballooned to one year! There were at least 4 writers who worked on the script (including Stan Laurel who contributed gags). Communication was so bad between the team (who's last feature film had been in 1945) and director Leo Joanon that it's been said blacklisted American director John Berry was brought in to help. At least 8 versions exist and somewhere down the road the copyright on this version lapsed making it the most easily accessible of Laurel & Hardy's movies!
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