The Bohemian Girl

I have never understood the lambasting `Bohemian Girl' has received. It is not the best L&H (I leave that for others to debate, but the lean is towards `Way Out West' or `Sons of the Desert'), but it is far, far from their worst.

The operetta background seemed to work as well for Stan and Ollie as the opera did for the Marxes (`A Night at the Opera'), Mae West (`Goin' to Town'), and the Stooges (`Microphonies'), giving them something different and deliberately starchy to play against.

It is a shame that Thelma Todd died just about the time BG was released. Stan was said to have felt it inappropriate to show her in such a big part with her lurid death – which many claim was a mob-related murder – still heading the headlines. The Hollywood hush-hush surrounding it may have also contributed to its excising…and the sadness was only worsened by its occurrence during the Christmas season and the arrival by mail of presents to various friends (including Stan) after her body had been found. Roach himself (with the bigwigs in his corner) was said to have helped head off the DA's second inquest after Thelma's attorney had protested the suicide verdict…another reason, perhaps, behind her severely edited and retooled role. Who begs for a dark cloud?

But how WELCOME to see Mae Busch back! She always worked especially well with the team and gives that extra boost to Ollie in particular that one always got from a Maggie Dumont, Jan Duggan, or Symona Boniface. Mae could play an absolute bitch, and you still loved her. The added reunion with Jimmy Finlayson was great (`Oh, my GOOD eye!' – an insider's joke that kills me every time), and we have the bonus of Our Gang's Darla as the adopted Arline. Sweet, without being cloying.

One might decry songs such as `The Heart Bow'd Down by Weight of Woe,' but it's an operetta, folks. There's going to be singing.

And with routines like `the eyes are the windows to your soul'; the fingers bit in the bar; the odd wrap-up gag; the wine bottling; Stan's bass/soprano switch; his search for Ollie's money; Darla's bedtime prayer; the butter churn…even something as simple as Ollie claiming to be leaving for a zither lesson and then miming it with his fingers (whereupon Stan suddenly gets it – `Oh!')…it's all great! What more could one want? They couldn't re-film `Sons of the Desert' every year! Give this baby a chance!

None of the latter day Fox-MGM movies can touch it; not even the best of `Jitterbugs.' `The Flying Deuces,' unfortunately so long in public domain that it appears one is watching it through a pillowcase, is pretty good, but this one seems warmer and cinematically superior. I prefer BG to some of its contemporaries, too. I mean, take `Bonnie Scotland,' with several good scenes sandwiched between the lachrymose bits with the whiney lead. Then look at the highly Roach-edited `Swiss Miss,' which butchers a L&H song and makes us sit through Della Lind and Walter Woolf King (who is decent here, but a far cry from the love-to-hate-him Lasparri (sic))…give me a dubbed Thelma and a nice helping of Mae any day.

Why complain and deride it? It's a pleasant evening, with lots of merriment. And it's Stan and Ollie in their prime, even if not in the best of their films. We should be so lucky as to have another BG filming in Hollywood today. Go jump on `The Big Noise' or `Air Raid Wardens,' if you just want to gripe.

But if you want some fun, pop BG into your VCR and prepare to laugh.

Two gentle eccentrics raise THE BOHEMIAN GIRL kidnapped by gypsies, unaware of her noble birth.

In evaluating this film it is important to understand that it is very different from the result first planned by Hal Roach. The mysterious and scandalous death (murder? suicide? accident?) of the leading lady late in 1935 caused extensive reshooting & reediting by the nervous Studio. Although Thelma Todd is still given third place billing, her participation has been slashed down to virtual insignificance. What a waste. This was the lovely & talented Miss Todd's final film, she was a credit to her

profession and she deserved better treatment. This probably also accounts for the abrupt cuts & scene transitions which plague the production.

As a result, Felix Knight's obvious role as romantic lead was also truncated and he is left with but one short appearance, singing a melodic ballad. This is also a shame, as he was a fine young actor and he never received another good chance to become a successful movie star.

The main attractions, Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy, never falter. They are hilarious even when sitting and doing nothing. Playing puckish pickpockets, they get to involve themselves in a fair amount of physical activity, which gives the viewer another opportunity to marvel at Stan's inventiveness and Ollie's remarkable grace & dexterity. Stan's latest finger trick and his attempt to siphon a barrel of wine into bottles, along with Ollie divesting a foppish nobleman of every last valuable accouterment, stand out, but only as gems among treasures.

Two of the great character actors from the Boys' films of the past appear with them again. Formidable Mae Busch, making her final appearance with Stan & Ollie, plays Hardy's spectacularly unfaithful wife and suspicious little James Finalyson comes in at the end as an officious captain of the guard.

OUR GANG cutie Darla Hood is darling indeed as the purloined infant. She grows up to become pretty Jacqueline Wells (an obvious replacement for Miss Todd). Former matinée idol Antonio Moreno plays Miss Busch's paramour, while elderly English actress Zeffie Tilbury brings life to the small part of the Gypsy Queen.

Irish prodigy Michael William Balfe (1808-1870) composed the 1843 operetta upon which the film is based. Many of the words of the songs, especially when performed by the Gypsy Chorus, are unintelligible. However, it is good to hear the wonderful old solo ballads "When Other Lips" & "I Dreamt That I Dwelt In Marble Halls" beautifully sung.

I disagree that this is the worst Laurel & Hardy film, but it is not their best either. The plot is simple and tedious with uninspired music, but the moments with Stan & Ollie still sparkle with crisp routines and character relationships. Stan's magic tricks are a real delight and Ollie's conflict with Mae Busch are classic. If you want the worst - check out "Utopia" - that's sadness personified.

This is Stan's response when Ollie tries to explain the sight of his wife's lover giving her a chuck under the chin.

"The Bohemian Girl" is classic L&H. Two guys who are clearly out of place(does anyone really buy them as gypsies? Especially when Ollie is wearing the same wig he wore in "March of the Wooden Soldiers").

I'm sure everyone by now knows this is the film that was Thelma Todd's last picture, due to her untimely death. That's why the film is so choppy, too many edits.

But there are still so many classic scenes with the two boys. Stan's wine scene, when Ollie recovers his "stolen" property, Stan searching under Ollie's pillow, and on and on.

James Finlayson and Mae Busch steal the picture. They are both so right for their parts, they're hysterical.

I had never seen this film before, but heard plenty about it. For years I have heard my mother-in-law talk about this film that she saw when she was young, and how some of the scenes had stayed with her. She thought that the film was lost, but my wife and I found a copy on Ebay, and gave it to her for this past Christmas. This weekend she loaned us the tape, and I enjoyed it so much I'm sure that many of the scenes will stay with me for a long time as well.

In one of Laurel & Hardy's least-seen films Stan not the first time plays the brains of the outfit as he and Hardy cross to the wrong side of the law as a pair of gypsy pickpockets wearing funny hats Bob Hope would have envied in the only film they made with lovely but ill-fated Thelma Todd.