Be Big!

This particular Hal Roach short with Laurel and Hardy seems to have worked so well that the idea was later expanded into their classic Sons Of The Desert comedy.

Stan and Ollie are a couple of henpecked husbands who have planned to take a joint vacation to Atlantic City with the wives. But then Ollie gets a call from a hunt club that he and Stan belong to and it seems as though the gang is throwing them a bash. And since this is a guys only type gathering, they have to ditch the wives.

Ollie fakes a tremendous headache in the usual overactive Ollie fashion and the wives decide to make it a girls only trip to Atlantic City. With the ruse working, Ollie and Stan have to get into their hunting outfits.

Personally I find it hard to believe that some hoity toity outfit would even have Laurel and Hardy as members let alone as honored guests at a party. But leaving that aside, most of the film from this point on is taken up with Hardy having managed to squeeze into Laurel's boots by mistake now trying to get them off his feet with Laurel's inept assistance.

I've never seen one gag milked so successfully for a film, granted it's just a short subject. Seeing poor Laurel struggling to get those boots off Hardy's feet, dragging him around the apartment and wrecking half of it is hilarious.

Who could have known that in reality the title Be Big referred to Ollie's feet.

Laurel and Hardy are about to leave for a weekend in Atlantic City with their wives when Baldwin Cooke calls up to tell Ollie to come over to the club.... there's a party on in his honor, and the description, unheard by the audience, convinces Ollie.... and convinces the audience that it's going to be something racy. Ollie affects an attack of nerves and the Boys send their wives on ahead. But the best laid plans of mice and men, as the saying goes.

Stepping out on the wives was not a new plot when this short was made, and it wouldn't be the last time Stan and Ollie used it; what, after all, is SONS OF THE DESERT? But farce comedy is not about the plot, it's about the gags, and a good deal of this one is expended on Mr. Hardy trying to get some boots off, while Mr. Laurel is mostly unhelpfully helpful. It's funny. What more do you want?

Stan, Ollie and their wives are going on a trip to Atlantic City, but when Ollie gets a call from a friend saying a stag party is being thrown in his (and Stan's) honor, he cannot resist. The boys get themselves into their usual bit of trouble, although the laughs here are a bit strained, most notably in the long winded boot sequence which went on entirely too long.

Sadly,this film and TWICE TWO(1933) are the only Laurel&Hardy films that elicit more yawns than laughs.

Preparing for a weekend in Atlantic City with the wives, the boys get a last minute phone call from t heir Lodge that they're holding a stag party in their honor. Ollie fakes a headache and sends the wives on ahead,saying they'll join t hem the next day.

But Ollie puts on Stan's shoes by mistake,and he can't get them off no matter how hard he tries. This is a THREE reeler rather than a two-reeler,and the extra length isn't worth the gag milking.

Three reels works when you're moving a piano, but NOT when you're trying to take off a shoe.

Laurel and Hardy and their wives are due to go away for a trip. However when Hardy's pals call him and tell him of a party in his honour he feigns illness and sends them on ahead of him and Laurel. But making excuses to his wife and getting away with it is only the start of the problem when it comes to actually getting ready to go out.

In what seems to be more an exercise in patience rather than a short film, the duo go through the motions in a film that doesn't do them justice when viewed along with other shorts. The plot's high point is a sequence where Hardy tries to get Laurel's boot (which he has mistaken for his own) first onto his foot and then, realising his mistake, off his foot. This is the guts of the film and is easily the funniest bit – but it isn't very good. It goes on too long and, save the great work in delivery, isn't funny enough to carry the film in the way it is expected to.

The duo try hard and both Laurel and Hardy do their well known thing to the best of their abilities but the material and the gags simply let them down. As real troopers they do their best and they are still worth watching the short for (I can't help but love Hardy's looks!) but they are not well served. The support cast (the wives) are good despite having little of consequence to do – it is nice to see Laurel and Hardy given wives who look pretty as opposed to battleaxe types (or themselves!)

Overall I feel that Laurel and Hardy are always worth watching, but this would be a poor place to start. A short film that goes through the motions with no really good gags or high points.