Laurel and Hardy, perhaps the greatest comedy double act in cinema history, returned to London on Sunday, twiddling their bowler hats to a delighted West End crowd as they arrived for the world premiere of the biopic "Stan & Ollie.

The closing film of the London Film Festival covers the twilight years of a couple who made more than 100 films spanning the silent and talkie era, with John C. Reilly as Oliver Hardy, the lovably oafish Southern gent, and Steve Coogan playing the idiot-savant Stan Laurel.

"It's a labor of love, this whole movie," Reilly told Reuters on the red carpet with Coogan in Leicester Square.