User Reviews

For years, I avoided seeing Stan and Ollie in THE BIG NOISE, after reading in book after book that the film was the worst they ever made, and without value. However, finally, begrudgingly, I saw it--not once, but twice--and with pleasure!!! Not only is it by far not the worst of their post-Hal Roach films (The two MGMs are far duller, and the first few Fox entries are buried under tiresome plots.), but it certainly compares favorably with their lesser Roach features (like SWISS MISS)and shorts (Are there any fans of BE BIG and THE LAUREL AND HARDY MURDER CASE out there?). Yeah, the Boys reprise quite a few old routines in this film (Screenwriter Scott Darling apparently mining their filmography mercilessly.), but then that wasn't uncommon at Roach either. I rather liked the wacky inventions like the compressed full course meal and the automated room. The supporting cast is bright with welcome players like Esther Howard, Phil van Zandt, and Arthur Space. I'll admit that the high-flying "patriotic" ending leaves this 21st Century film-goer cold. But any film that has so much leisurely L&H byplay (stuff like hat switching, stubborn door locks, and so many Hardy camera looks of exasperation)is simply no bomb, by any reasonable measure. I'll go so far as to say that--against conventional wisdom--it just might be my favorite of the (admittedly sorry)later Laurel and Hardys.

I'll have to agree with a majority of the posters for this film in that it doesn't deserve it's reputation as one of the worst Laurel and Hardy films. It may not be of the caliber of "Sons of the Desert" or "Way Out West", but it's entertaining enough in it's own right. If I had to find a quibble, it's in the fact that Stan Laurel doesn't seem to have any of his classic, nonsensical responses to situations the Boys find themselves in, like "I heard what he said but I didn't hear what he meant" from their film "Nothing But Trouble", out the same year as this one. They do repeat some of their former gags like the train car scenario, one of their hallmarks from 1929's film short "Berth Marks". The ending comes across as rather abrupt, as the inventor in the story (Arthur Space) never does make it to Washington, D.C. with his explosive invention. I had to laugh when I read one of the comments on this board in which the reviewer lamented the 'annoying little kid' in the beginning of the movie. That annoying little kid grew up to become TV's Baretta, Robert Blake. I always liked Blake, even through his personal difficulties, and this is the only Laurel and Hardy effort I've ever seen him in.

I have to kick myself for assuming that all of the post-Hal Roach Laurel and Hardy films were poor or only slightly amusing at best. True, most of them were, but this one is a pleasing find in their later day credits.

The actual "Big Noise" is a massive explosive, a bomb slightly bigger than a pool ball but smaller than a bowling ball. It can blow up an entire mountain (which somehow the police or newspapers never find out about) but poor Oliver doesn't see it. His head is covered by part of an old fashioned camera, making him look like an elephant. The boys are hired to guard the bomb invented by a wacky inventor who also invented an eye guard for people eating grapefruit. Of course, some criminals next door find out about the invention, and the boys screw everything up, leading to lots of hilarity.

As the inventor, Arthur Space plays his part as if he were Karloff or Lugosi in one of their sillier horror films from PRC or Monogram-totally seriously! Recent "Our Gang" graduate Bobby Blake (later Robert, of "Baretta" fame in addition to a well-publicized murder trial) is adorable as Space's prankster son. There's some amusing uses of familiar songs, particularly "Did You Ever See a Dream Walking?" for Space's Bluebeard-ish like Aunt who's buried six husbands and wants to make Oliver her seventh), "Singin' in the Rain" (where Hardy accidentally finds a shower in Space's inventive model home) and "Mairzedoats", played by Laurel on his trusted accordion and later danced to by some talented fish. There's the usual series of pants-ripping gags, sights of Hardy constantly tripping over luggage and some great verbal humor, especially one surrounding who will stay up taking turns to guard the bomb. Of course, Laurel is never as dumb as he seems, so its always nice to see him pull one over on the unsuspecting Hardy.

First, a summary of what this wartime Laurel and Hardy film is about, and then some background information and my impressions of the movie.

Stan and Ollie are janitors at a detective agency and are working late at night when a crackpot scientist calls them--asking for a couple of detectives to guard his new top secret bomb (I wasn't sure at first if he was referring to a weapon or the movie itself). Ollie announces that he and Stan are detectives and will be right over. Unknown to them, the neighbors who live next to the crackpot are crooks and two of them plan on stealing the bomb to sell to an enemy power.

Once at the home of the professor, he entertains the boys by showing off his amazing space-saving room as well as feeding them a meal of food in pill form. Neither of these key moments in the film are funny, though it's obvious they were intended as laugh riots. I think showing a documentary on skin diseases would have been funnier!

Later, after the crooks try to steal the formula, Stan and Ollie take off on a cross country chase. During this time, they board a train and they blatantly rip off one of their earlier films, BERTH MARKS. While I wasn't a huge fan of BERTH MARKS (it's not one of their better shorts), Stan and Ollie manage to redo it and take out all the humor and originality. Supposedly, Stan tried to get the director to change the scene and do it quite differently (on a plane), but Fox simply wanted to churn this out regardless of whether or not it was funny or a quality product. Stan and Ollie's lack of enthusiasm is quite evident in their delivery.

Ultimately, the boys blunder onto a radio controlled plane and the movie ends with a scene that really seems to come from out of nowhere, as they parachute from the plane and drop this secret bomb on a Japanese sub. So, literally and metaphorically, the film ends with the team dropping a huge bomb.

From 1941 to 1950 was the absolute low-point for the team of Laurel and Hardy. Following SAPS AT SEA (1940), the team no longer was under contract with Hal Roach Studios and became free agents--mostly selling their services to 20th Century Fox, but also to MGM and a French production company. None of these products remotely resembled the finely crafted films the boys made in the 1920s and 30s, but a few (such as JITTERBUGS) managed to be almost passable entertainment. A few, such as DANCING MASTERS, ATOLL K and THE BIG NOISE managed to mostly make fans of the team cringe--as Laurel and Hardy looked old and rather sickly, plus the films simply weren't funny. Most of this was because the companies had no interest in input from Stan--who often contributed ideas to the Roach films but was completely ignored by the other studios.

Of all the bad films made by Laurel and Hardy, however, THE BIG NOISE must rank as the very worst--mostly because it doesn't offer a single laugh...not even one! This isn't to say the film is unwatchable--it is watchable--sort of like a train wreck. The main reason I saw it was because I have seen almost every available Laurel and Hardy film as well as almost all of their existing shorts before they teamed up--so I would eventually like to say I've seen every one of their films. I think I have at most 3 or 4 to go.

There is one other reason I wanted to see THE BIG NOISE and that's because it managed to be listed in "The 50 Worst Films of All Time" book by Harry Medved. I have probably seen about 30 to 40 of these bad films and just like my quest for Laurel and Hardy films, I'd like to one day see them all. Now, having seen it, I can honestly say it is the worst Laurel and Hardy film but it isn't bad enough to make the list in the book--there are probably a few hundred movies worse than THE BIG NOISE--though this isn't much of a consolation!! My advice is that if you are obsessive-compulsive about Laurel and Hardy films or you also want to see the supposed 50 worst films ever made, then by all means watch it. Otherwise, with so many wonderful films to their credit, please see some other Laurel and Hardy film instead--any would be preferable to this unfunny pile of bilge.

By the way, I have noticed in reviews for the later Laurel and Hardy films that most of the reviews were amazingly positive--so positive I either wonder if they never saw the earlier films (which deserve high praise) or if the positive reviews were really a vote to say "I love the team no matter what". Well, I love the team, but can't see how a sane person could like this mess of a film. It just isn't funny.

always good to see the Boys, in all their "eras". by the 1940s, it was good to see them but not good to watch them and wait to laugh...and wait. there are very, very few laughs available in their 1941 to 1945 series. the pictures have been dissected by fans and critics alike...yes, it all comes down to: generally, these features are their worst. some happiness found in THE DANCING MASTERS and THE BULLFIGHTERS, two straight ahead comedies, no helping the fiancés, etc.

here we have the very infamous film which probably deserves that bad rep'. it's mostly revisitations of gags from the '20s and '30s, one is excellent (the "upper berth" routine). one would hope that with a bigger budget this time they could make it even better..but no. no use going down the list of material which doesn't work either as reminder of the old days or as updates, if they can be called that.

I say that this picture, on the other hand, should have been their best post-Roach because there are so many chances to get it right. 2 mention just 2, if ya don't mind my 2-cents: early in the film, L & H are shown as t5hird shift office cleaners. a phone call comers thru. Ollie picks up the phone. he tries to speak over Stan's messing with an unusually loud vacuum cleaner. OK. not bad. gotta be a joke coming up. (?) Ollie agrees to a job for he and his partner. the job is to work as security guards (for a very eccentric inventor). sounds good, yes! but...here's how it's totally ruined: the vacuum noise means nothing > Ollie CAN understand the caller. PLUS, he and Stan are coincidentally striving to be Detectives. what Roach would have done? Stan's racket makes the call impossible and so Ollie believes he and Stan are being hired as Cleaners, not Security Guards - of a new experimental bomb to be carried carefully by hand all the way to Washington. the humour is killed because Security guards carrying a bomb is not nearly as funny as Maintenance men carrying a bomb. add this: Bobby Blake, yes Baretta in an early incarnation, is a mischievous little son of weird inventor > does the script call for him to switch the real bomb with the fake one? WELL, NO SPOILER HERE...you get my drift.

. . . THE BIG NOISE teaches the war-weary American public four main lessons. First, ANYONE can come up with an idea for a super weapon which will win the war. While "Alva P. Hartley" as the eccentric bomb inventor here is not as singular as Albert Einstein, his real-life counterpart, they BOTH come up with the same idea--one bomb that can destroy a major world city (well, technically, Alva beats Albert to this notion by a year). Second, ANYONE can be a mercenary traitor at a time when loose lips sink ships. The characters "Jim Hartman" and "Dutchy Glassman" seem like the most average Americans here, but they're the ones plotting against the United States. Third, men need to focus on Homeland Security in war time, while leaving all the less essential jobs to women, who keep the home fires burning. In THE BIG NOISE, it's the men who design the munitions, guard military secrets, patrol vital highways, and man anti-aircraft guns. Women deliver telegrams, keep colleges going, and drive cabs. Fourth, ANY American can be in the right spot in the right time to score a major victory against the Axis, if they have proper situational awareness. Laurel and Hardy brave intense "friendly fire" in THE BIG NOISE to scuttle an enemy submarine on the verge of destroying Hollywood. Bottoms up, boys!

Laurel and Hardy do theirs for the war effort. The film's funniest sequences are in a train cabin, at a dinner party (with very little you can call food) and despite this, the whole thing takes a wrong turn, with a truly head scratching end, that I can only imagine got a misplaced cheer by the wartime audiences.

I know that Asian people and particularly Japanese were not very popular in the United States in the 40s, but to portray them as wrong as so many filmmakers did and in my opinion still do, leaves me a little bit nauseated.

Of course, they were not the only ones given raw deals in Hollywood at that time, and I am glad that we live in a little more enlightened time.

Anyway, this is, despite the ending, full of what made Laurel and Hardy one of the most beloved comedy teams of the 20th century. Logic takes a back step (the inventor is particularly out of it, isn't he? Why would he ever hire such a pair of bumblers in the first place?). It's all an excuse for madcap comedy.

Despite my objection to that ending, this is somewhat entertaining. They could have done without the subplot about the gangsters, though.