The Big Noise (1944)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Malcolm St. Clair

Writer:

Scott Darling (screenplay)

Release Date:

October 1944 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Comedy | Romance | War

Tagline:

The Laugh BANG Of A Lifetime !

Plot:

During World War II Stan and Ollie find themselves as improbable bodyguards to an eccentric inventor and his strategically important new bomb.

Plot Keywords:

Bomb | Inventor | Japanese | Janitor | Eccentric

Cast

Stan Laurel	...	Stan
Oliver Hardy	...	Ollie
Doris Merrick	...	Evelyn
Arthur Space	...	Alva P. Hartley
Veda Ann Borg	...	Mayme Charlton
Robert Blake	...	Egbert Hartley (as Bobby Blake)
Frank Fenton	...	Charlton
James Bush	...	Hartman

Runtime:

74 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Recording)

Certification:

Australia:G | USA:Approved (PCA #10085) | USA:TV-G (TV rating) | Finland:S | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Arcadia, California, USA

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

According to Laurel and Hardy biographer Randy Skretvedt, the film's finale, in which Laurel drops a bomb on a Japanese spy submarine, got cheers from wartime audiences.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the duo are in the hi-tech bedroom, and Ollie rides the bed back out of the wall, the following sequences show that the rotating table is first clear, then has the pipe and magnifying glass back on it, then is clear again, and then has the chairs re-arranged.

Quotes:

[Stan and Ollie have been invited to dinner]
Oliver: I'm famished.
Alva P. Hartley: We'll start with the turkey.
[he uncovers a tray holding a number of pills]
Alva P. Hartley: Will you have light meat or dark?
[Alva plunks some pills on the boys' plates]
Stanley: Could I have another joint?

Movie Connections:

References Let Freedom Ring (1939)

Soundtrack:

Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean

For years, wrongfully accused of being the team's "worst;" surprise: it's one of the best of their later features! :)

Here it is - the film that had the worst reputation for many years, due to several books about films in general and Laurel & Hardy films in particular that labeled it the team's "worst ever." Many fans who never had an opportunity to view the film took those books at their word... until they actually saw the film. Now they realize that not only is "The Big Noise" one of the best of the later films the team did for the big studios like MGM and in this case, 20th Century Fox (several of which admittedly were not among the best due to studio interference and such), but it also compares favorably to many of the classic films done during the team's golden years at the Hal Roach Studios (even besting a few of those gems, if you ask me).

Find out for yourself. This film is now available on DVD as part of a 3-disc set that also includes two other Fox L&H features, "Great Guns" (their first for Fox, and one I dislike - it tries to take square Laurel & Hardy pegs and force them through round Abbott & Costello holes, in my opinion) and "Jitterbugs" (a slightly-above average film that shows how the team could have continued their careers as character actors).

"The Big Noise" has a loopy charm that will just carry you away if you let it. It is filled with reprises of some classic L&H routines from yesterday (some think that's desperation, but I see it as an homage) and an absurd, farcical plot. This is a film that I had not seen in about 25-30 years, but had vivid memories of. When my Sons of the Desert tent (the Laurel & Hardy aficionado club) ran the film at one of our meetings, I was shocked: my memories were absolutely right on target! "The Big Noise" had stuck with me for many years. And rightfully so. One area in which it improves on a lot of the other '40s L&H films that it featured some supporting characters who were supposed to be comical, just like in the Roach films.

I will forever be baffled over this film's bad reputation. If you stack it up against some of the other '40s L&H films, at least the boys are IN the action-- they're not taking a back seat. They're also not portrayed so much as doddering old fools ("Air Raid Wardens," "A-Haunting We Will Go") or servants ("Nothing But Trouble"). They are quite close to their Roach persona's, in my opinion. The only compromise seems to be less slapstick, but that is in obvious deference to their advance ages, it seems-- I think it's okay to have a "pill as a meal" gag instead of Ollie falling in the mud since they're older here. Also, it's just absolutely crazy (in a fun, entertaining way, in my opinion) that they happen to wind up parachuting over the water and somehow there's an enemy sub in it, but that's part of the loopy charm of this movie, and I feel it has one of the best closing shots of any of the "bizarre endings" Stan favored for a lot of the films. This is a really fun film that was perfect for the times in which it was made and still can produce laughs today.

So don't believe the (negative) hype - this is NOT the team's worst. Save those darts for "A-Haunting We Will Go" and "Nothing But Trouble!"