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From a book that is on all our shelves, Mr. Laurel & Mr. Hardy by John McCabe: "I wish they'd re-release When Knights Were Cold," Stan has said. "I guess maybe I'd like to see it again because it has one beautifully funny sequence that I've never seen in movies---either before or since. We had an army of knights in a chase sequence. There were over three hundred of them working with basket horses---you know, the circus clown-type horses, with the men's legs extending beneath the little papier-mache horse built around them. It was hilarious, like some of those circus routines. There were a lot of routines we did in those days that have been forgotten today. Comics now lean too much on the line gag and not the visual gag. I think that Hollywood comics these days are talking too much and not doing enough."

Amen. And thanks to Rob Stone for finding and saving that unforgettable bit of classic comedy.

Rob Farr wrote:From a book that is on all our shelves, Mr. Laurel & Mr. Hardy by John McCabe: "I wish they'd re-release When Knights Were Cold," Stan has said. "I guess maybe I'd like to see it again because it has one beautifully funny sequence that I've never seen in movies---either before or since. We had an army of knights in a chase sequence. There were over three hundred of them working with basket horses---you know, the circus clown-type horses, with the men's legs extending beneath the little papier-mache horse built around them. It was hilarious, like some of those circus routines. There were a lot of routines we did in those days that have been forgotten today. Comics now lean too much on the line gag and not the visual gag. I think that Hollywood comics these days are talking too much and not doing enough."

Amen. And thanks to Rob Stone for finding and saving that unforgettable bit of classic comedy.

And Stan proved to be 100% spot on with his recollections and assessment on that scene, and the rest of the film that survives. We all seemed to agree at Slapsticon that "The Travesties of Stan Laurel" (travesty being the then-popular phrase for satire, as Rob Stone explained in his introduction) is a grouping of films that need to be reassessed and perhaps elevated into the upper strata of silent comedy.

I also found Stan's gag involving the obviously fake cyclorama castle wall on which grew the ever-expanding trellis both funny and interesting. It shows his creative amusement involving early special effects, pre-dating his tongue-in-cheek treatment of rear screen projection in the final moments of "County Hospital."

Jim K

What it shows is an eccentric mind-set that was on display his entire lifetime of creating gags.
It was as unique as Chaplin's, Keaton's, and Fields' was.

Did Rob Stone go into detail over how he came across the 2nd reel and is there any hope that reel 1 exists?

Gary J. (I'll keep asking this question until I don't get an answer....then I'll stop)