"Jitterbugs" (20th Century-Fox, 1943) features the comedy team of Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy as themselves who meet up with an enterprising man (Robert Bailey) who has a formula that changes water into gasoline, and later all getting involved with swindlers. The movie is an update remake to an old Fox film, "Arizona to Broadway" (1933) with James Dunn and Joan Bennett, with this comedy given the Laurel and Hardy treatment. I have fond memories of this particular movie mainly because it is the film that introduced me to Stan and Ollie way back when I was a fourth grader in 1969. Since then, I've wanted to see their other movies. I would later be in for a treat when I got to watch the comedies Stan and Ollie did for Hal Roach in the 1930s. It's a pity they didn't get the freedom to be creative at 20th Century-Fox as they were for Roach. "Jitterbugs" co-stars Vivian Blaine, who sings like Fox's own Alice Faye in a deep and throaty manner, but has a personality all her own. A likable screen personality, she adds something to this comedy without being a dull romantic interest supporter. She sings "The Moon Kissed the Mississippi" and "I Gotta See for Myself" (good lively tune). Directed by Malcolm St.Clair, with Douglas Fowley, Lee Patrick and Noel Madison in support. Laurel disguised as "Aunt Emily" and Hardy's Southern gentleman interpretation as "Colonel Bixby" are one of the comedy highlights here. To date this is the only Laurel and Hardy/ 20th-Fox movie to air on American Movie Classics. It premiered on that cable station February 7, 1997. It's nice having it brought back once in a while since it's not, as of this writing, available on video cassette.(**)
Review of Jitterbugs
