The Devil's Brother (aka Bogus Bandits, aka Fra Diavolo) is a 1933 film directed by Hal Roach and Charley Rogers, and starring Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy.
It is an adaptation of comic opera "Fra Diavolo
". "Fra Diavolo" is the name given to a highwayman who is crisscrossing northern Italy robbing rich folks as they travel by carriage. What no one knows is that Fra Diavolo has a Secret Identity as the "Marquis de San Marco", a supposed aristocrat. In his disguise as the Marquis, he worms his way into the company of rich travelers, so he can find out what money and jewels they are carrying, then he has his men rob them.
Meanwhile, Stan and Ollie are "Stanio" and "Ollio", two Heterosexual Life-Partners who, in their first appearances, are themselves robbed of their life savings by highwaymen. Stan and Ollie elect to give banditry a try, and they attempt to rob a well-dressed traveler—who is Fra Diavolo. Fra Diavolo almost hangs them, but instead enlists Stan and Ollie as his minions, and brings them with him on his next job, robbing Lord Rocburg of 500,000 francs in cash.
Tropes:
- Bathe Her and Bring Her to Me: A rare non-sexual version of this trope. Fra Diavolo decides to use Stan and Ollie as his henchmen for his next job. But after taking a second look at them, Fra Diavolo, who is nattily dressed and quite The Dandy, says "After you've cleaned them and washed them and...curry-combed them, send them to me."
- Brick Joke: The bull charging Stan's red handkerchief, a gag seen soon after Stan and Ollie reach the inn. At the end Stan, Ollie, and Fra Diavolo are all being stood in front of a firing squad. Stan pulls out the red handkerchief to wipe his nose, and the bull charges again. Stan and Ollie (and Fra Diavolo) all escape in the chaos as the film ends.
- Bull Seeing Red
- Stan and Ollie are flirting with some pretty servant girls, with the boys twiddling their ties and fluttering handkerchiefs at the girls. Unfortunately Stan pulls out a red handkerchief to flutter at the girls, which leads a bull in the courtyard to charge them. (It's definitely red because Ollie yells at Stan afterwards, "And you had to wave a red handkerchief!"
- At the end Stan pulls out his handkerchief again as he's about to be shot by firing squad, and this causes the bull to charge again, allowing Stan and Ollie (and Fra Diavolo) to escape in the chaos.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Stan accidentally allows bandits to steal their hard-earned money. Ollie complains, "Now we have to start all the way at the bottom again!" To which Laurel replies: "Why don't we start at the top? Become bandits ourselves."
- Creative Closing Credits: Creative Opening Credits. The opening credits play out as a series of hand-written scrolls, rolled out one at a time by a hand coming in from off-screen.
- Credits Gag: The names of the actors in the credits are accompanied by what appears to be the actual signatures of the actors. For "Stanio", Stan Laurel signed his name with an X.
- Dramatic Irony: After Lady Pamela is robbed of her medallion, the captain of the guard says "I doubt, milady, if we'll have to search far for the thief." Fra Diavolo is standing right next to him downing a glass of wine.
- Faux Affably Evil: Fra Diavolo acts most of the time as a jaunty, dashing, Gentleman Thief style highwayman. But he hits one of his men in the face when he's told they didn't get the cash, he nearly has Ollie hanged, and when robbing Lord Rocburg's room he gives Stan a knife and tells him to kill Zerlina the maid if she wakes up and sees them.
- High-Class Glass: Lord Rocburg has a high-class glass on a stick which he uses to peer angrily from time to time. This is a nod to how regular L&H antagonist James Finlayson, who plays Lord Rocburg, had a trademark one-eyed glare that he'd use whenever Stan and Ollie pissed him off.
- Lingerie Scene:
- Thelma Todd as Lady Pamela, in a fanservice scene where she's wearing a corset and stockings as she gets changed.
- Later Zerlina has a scene where she undresses to bra, frilly underpants, and stockings, and sings a song about how she has a really nice body.
- The Man They Couldn't Hang: Stan, acting on Fra Diavolo's orders, tries to hang Ollie. But after the horse trots off and Ollie drops, the tree branch snaps under his weight. Ollie is saved for good after this when Fra Diavolo instead decides to use them as his henchmen to rob Lord Rocburg.
- Never Learned to Read: Poor Stan. Ollie points out the "Wanted!" Poster for Fra Diavolo and Stan says "What does it say?" This is also a Call-Back to the Credits Gag in which Stan signed his name with an X.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Stan and Ollie, riding out the gate on a bucking bull, as they scream with fear.
- Parental Marriage Veto: Matteo the innkeeper, father to lovely Zerlina, refuses to let her marry her soldier boyfriend Lorenzo. Instead he's pushing her into an Arranged Marriage as Trophy Wife to wealthy Francesco.
- Proud Beauty: In one scene, Zerlina, changing for bed, looks in a mirror. She observes herself in a bra, frilly panties, and stockings, and sings a little song about how she's proud about having a great body. ("There's no cause for sighing/when one boasts such a figure as this.") This is plot relevant as Stan sings it later, so Zerlina realizes that he was in her room the night of the robbery.
- Stubborn Mule: In Stan and Ollie's first appearance, Stan is struggling to get his stubborn mule to move out of a mud puddle.
- Tampering with Food and Drink: Fra Diavolo sends a drugged glass of wine to Lord Rocburg, with the intention of robbing his room after Lord Rocburg passes out. Instead Stan drinks it, playing havoc with the robbery that follows.
- Taxidermy Terror: Fra Diavolo has ordered Stan to hang Ollie. At one point, Stan asks Ollie whether he'd like to be buried or stuffed, and an indignant Ollie reacts in horror at the idea of it.
- Tempting Fate: Ollie takes their life savings, holds up the two bags of cash, and talks about how wonderful it is that they can live a life in retirement now and wouldn't it be terrible if they lost the money. This is immediately followed by the bandits showing up.
- Too Important to Walk: Fra Diavolo, in his "Marquis de San Marco" guise, enters the inn's courtyard in a sedan chair carried by Stan and Ollie. He's just trying to make an impression.
- "Wanted!" Poster: A poster offering 20,000 lira for Fra Diavolo is hanging in Matteo's bar. Stan and Ollie get the idea to turn Fra Diavolo in and collect the reward, but naturally, they screw it up.
