‘Angora Love’ (1929) was Laurel and Hardy’s last silent film and, was, in fact, the last silent film released by MGM. (Garbo’s ‘The Kiss’ was the last silent feature the studio released, one month prior to this film). Shot in March of 1929, the release was inexplicably delayed until all but the shoddiest little theaters had been wired for sound and audiences were now staying away from movies that didn’t speak. Nonetheless, the synchronized organ score and sound effects were dutifully provided and are a delightful addition to this otherwise fairly labored effort. It’s curious to me how long it took for studios to jump wholeheartedly into making all-talking movies. The other day I screened Al Jolson’s ‘The Singing Fool’, made in 1928 and featuring plenty of sound sequences interspersed with silent ones. Thus, the reason couldn’t have had anything to do with theaters not being wired for sound. It’s as if the studio heads were still having arguments about how to use sound–just for songs? Just for crowd noise? Would intimate scenes between people benefit from audible dialogue or be harmed by it? There are some dreadful early part-talking Our Gang shorts which are painful (though fascinating) to watch due to their random interspersal of silent and sound sequences, with the silent ones being shot at a different frame rate than the sound sequences. Anyhoo, enjoy the last of the silent L&H’s. Vacation week is over and so is my annual Laurel and Hardy silent-fest. Hope you enjoyed!