Zenobia (film)

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Zenobia
VHS cover
Directed by	Gordon Douglas
Produced by	Hal Roach
Written by	Corey Ford
Starring	Oliver Hardy Harry Langdon Billie Burke Alice Brady Hattie McDaniel
Music by	Marvin Hatley
Cinematography	Karl Struss
Editing by	Bert Jordan
Distributed by	United Artists
Release date(s)	1939
Running time	74 min.
Country	U.S.A.
Language	English
IMDb profile

Zenobia (also known as Elephants Never Forget (UK) and It's Spring Again) is a 1939 comedy film starring Oliver Hardy, Harry Langdon, Billie Burke, Alice Brady, James Ellison, Jean Parker, June Lang, Stepin Fetchit, and Hattie McDaniel. It is one of the few films after the teaming of Laurel and Hardy that features Hardy without Stan Laurel^[1] This teaming of Oliver Hardy with someone other than Stan Laurel was the result of a contract dispute between Hal Roach and Stan Laurel. Zenobia was Roach's attempt to create a new comedic pair without Stan Laurel, and a series of films with Hardy and Langdon was planned. The dispute was short-lived, however, and Laurel and Hardy were reunited shortly thereafter^[2]

The film, itself, enjoyed some success. The reviewer for the New York Times wrote on May 15, 1939, that the film:

"...[was] a rough idea of what would happen to Gone With the Wind if Hal Roach had produced it...[it was] an antebellum, costume romance in slapstick...".

Then--playing on the potential for a new comedy team of Hardy and Langdon--the reviewer said:

"...Harry Landon has adopted the partnership prerequistes formerly reserved for Stan Laurel...Harry Langdon's pale and beautifuly blank countenance...has probably already excited the professional jealousy of Mr. Laurel..."

The source of the film was the novel Zenobia's Infidelity by H.C. Bunner and was originally purchased by Roach as a vehicle for Roland Young. Other points of interest about Zenobia include the fact that the music was by Marvin Hatley, the composer of "The Cuckoo Song," Laurel and Hardy's famous theme song.

[edit] Plot

Hardy plays Dr. Henry Tibbett, a country doctor who is called on by a travelling circus trainer to cure his sick elephant. After the doctor heals the grateful beast, the elephant becomes so attached to him that it starts to follow him everywhere. This leads to the to the trainer suing Dr. Tibbet for alienation of affection.

[edit] Notes

^ For Oliver Hardy's films without Stan Laurel, see: Filmography of Oliver Hardy.
^ For details on this dispute, see the main article on Laurel and Hardy.