slapstick double acts.
oliver hardy was fat and pompous,
stan laurel thin and childish,
both wore trademark bowler hats.
today a new discovery is being
celebrated by their legions of fans.
fragments from the british actor
stan laurel‘s solo film "detained",
which were believed to have been
lost, have been found deep
in the frisian film archive
in the netherlands.
it's believed to be the only
existing copy in the world.
anna holligan reports.
do you recognise this man?
look a little closer.
because that is exactly
what this archivist did.
jurjen enzing had been stocktaking
old nitrate films when he realised
he'd stumbled upon one
of the silent movie world's
most captivating characters.
the rediscovered scene shows
stan laurel playing a prisoner,
and eventually exacting
a typically absurd escape.
this early experiment
with special effects ended up
on the cutting room floor.
these scenes on these fragments