A Chump at Oxford (1940)

As a reward for capturing a bank robber, Stan and Ollie get scholarship to Oxford, but are met with resentment by other students.

Director:

Alfred J. Goulding

Writers:

Charley Rogers (original story), Felix Adler (original story),

Stars:

Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Forrester Harvey

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Stan Laurel	...	Stan / Lord Paddington
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie
Forrester Harvey	...	Meredith
Wilfred Lucas	...	Dean Williams
Forbes Murray	...	Banker
Frank Baker	...	Dean's Servant
Eddie Borden	...	Ghost
Gerald Rogers	...	Student
Victor Kendall	...	Student
Gerald Fielding	...	Student
Charlie Hall	...	Student (as Charles Hall)
Peter Cushing	...	Student

Storyline

With Stan in drag, the boys get jobs as a butler and maid for a dinner party at the Vandevere's. After that ends in disaster, they're reduced to sweeping streets, and accidentally capture a bank robber. The grateful bank president sends them to Oxford for a proper education. There they become victims of student pranks, getting lost in the Maze and taking over the Dean's quarters as their own. But then a knock on the head gets Stan to believing he's the famed Lord Paddington, scholar and athlete extraordinaire. Suddenly erudite and supercilious, he retains Oliver as his valet, "Fatty."

---

Plot Keywords:

oxford | valet | maze | scholarship | dean | 

---

Genres:

Comedy

---

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

16 February 1940 (USA)

Also Known As:

Les as d'Oxford

Filming Locations:

Canon Drive, Beverly Hills, California, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Hal Roach Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

63 min 63 min (copyright length)

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Mirrophonic Recording)

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Anita Garvin's final film with Laurel & Hardy. She came out of retirement as a favor to Stan Laurel, playing basically the same role she had played in Laurel & Hardy's silent film From Soup to Nuts, whose title is a line of Ollie's dialogue in this movie.

---

Quotes

Student: [with entire student body, marching] Fe, fi,fo,fum. We want the blood of an American. Be he alive, or be he dead, we'll break his bones to make our bread. We'll beat those Yankees like a drum. We'll send them back where they came from
[pointing at their window]
Student: Fe, fi, fo, fum.

---

Connections

Edited into Dance of the Cookoos (1982)

---

Soundtracks

"Fee-fi-fo-fum!"
(uncredited)
Traditional and famously used in the fairy tale "Jack and the Beanstalk"
Sung a cappella by Oxford students with modified lyrics

User Reviews

do watch it, but make sure that you don't go into dizzy spells

This may be the only fine mess that Laurel and Hardy get themselves into that actually benefits them. After stopping a bank robber, they get sent to Oxford for a proper education, and a knock on the head makes Stan remember that he's actually Lord Paddington, an effete Brit who makes Ollie his servant.

I think that my two favorite parts were the maze ghost, and the whole scene in the dean's room. Maybe "A Chump at Oxford" wasn't Laurel and Hardy's best movie ever, but it was still a hoot. It just goes to show that those guys were truly one of the classic comedy teams.

Dizzy spells. Ha!