Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy appeared together in 35 silent films, of which 33 were produced by the Hal Roach Studios between the years 1926 and 1929. They were not an established team with a vaudeville background, in the manner of most comedy teams of the day. Rather, they were film actors who just happened to appear in several films together. When they found themselves both employed on the Roach lot in 1926, they (along with James Finlayson, Charlie Chase and Edna Marion) were part of Roach's "All Stars," a stable of comedy regulars who appeared in a variety of roles in dozens of two-reel comedies. Director Leo McCarey is the man most often credited with noticing the chemistry that always resulted when Laurel and Hardy shared the screen, and as being the main inspiration behind their permanent teaming.

     The film history of Laurel and Hardy, therefore, begins with several films in which they co-starred, but were neither a team nor their familiar "Stan and Ollie" characters. While we have not seen all of the films listed in this section (mainly due to their availability) we were able to offer comments on most of them, and provide a running history of the team's evolution in the film synopses.