Directed by John G. Blystone
Written by Charlie Rogers, Felix Adler, et al
1938/USA
Hal Roach Studios
First viewing
Oliver: But, Toots, Stan is different.
Mrs. Hardy: I’ll say he’s different!
For some reason, this just did not tickle my funny bone.
The story opens in the trenches of WWI France. Ollie departs for combat with the rest of his battalion leaving Stan to guard the trench. Twenty years later, Stan is still guarding it. When he shoots down a French pilot, he is sent home where he is reunited with Ollie. The two get in to many “fine messes”.
The film was announced as being the last Laurel & Hardy movie and it was the last Hal Roach production for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Laurel & Hardy went on to make many films at Hal Roach Studios.
Happy Thanksgiving to all celebrants!
Clip – first scene
This is where the Laurel and Hardy films started to go downhill. They may have overstayed their welcome as a comedy team and their films got weaker and weaker. The wide-eyed dummy and the bully schtick was starting to wear out and they probably should have changed directions if that was possible. I know that Oliver Hardy did some films solo but I’m not sure about Stan Laurel. But along with the Marx Brothers, they are still my favorite early film comedians.
It seems to happen to the best of them, unfortunately.