Be Big!

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.

Once again the boys try to fool their wives by feigning illness. This time instead of taking them to Atlantic City, Ollie gets wind of a stag at their lodge and apparently it's in his honor. After convincing Stan that he is not actually sick, they set about preparing for the event. However, it takes half the episode to get Stan's boots off Ollie, who has accidentally put them on. Stan's boots are way too small. Nothing ever works out because the women have to return and the boys are caught red handed. Nevertheless, while the women are away, things are hilarious. We would ask ourselves, if this were a realistic venue, why these guys are so cavalier in their efforts to try to get up to something when these things are doomed.

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.

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.

"Be Big" is one of the better short slapstick movies that the legendary couple made.Like always the story is not as important as the many jokes and visual expressions. The phone and doorbell of Hardy is hilarious as well as the doorbell of Laurel. Still,the biggest laughs come after the wives have left and when Ollie & Stan put on their boots for the club.These scenes are,although sometimes a bit long,really funny.

Of course it ends all wrong,but that is typical for these short features.A very nice piece of work. 9/10