The Big Noise (1944)

Just perfect...

Expected more

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

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.

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.

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.

This is one of Laurel & Hardy's later Twentieth Century-Fox films and it is not one of their best. However, it is an upbeat and fast-paced effort that shows signs that they put some effort into it. THE BIG NOISE has some good bits: the dinner with the inventor, the bunk bed scene in the train, and the constant threat of the bomb going off with Stan transporting it carelessly. The only part of this movie that seems weak is the Nazi segment and the scenes with a very annoying little kid. Other than that, this is recommended for all L&H fans, especially younger fans. 7 out of 10.