Gasbags

I had heard of the Crazy Gang and that this movie was quite the morale booster for the British in the dark days of the war. I wanted to like this movie but just didn't. Perhaps in part it was the generally poor print quality of the tape I was watching. I have read that some disliked this movie because there is nothing funny about World War II or Hitler. For me, this wasn't the issue but rather that the plot was just too wacky, zany and frenetic. I couldn't keep track of all the characters and it all seem like a jumbled mess. A previous reviewer mentioned the Three Stooges. Each of the Stooges had a distinct personality unlike the Crazy Gang where it was hard for me to tell one from the other. As a youngster in the fifties, I grew up with the Stooges on Saturday morning television. I remember them very fondly – of course I was a kid. The Crazy Gang just didn't resonate with me. That said, I will still probably give them another look-see given how popular they were in their day.

I am deleting after 49 minutes out of 77. You should stop earlier or not watch at all. The song, Yesterday's Dream is sweet, but everything else about this movie is preposterous and not funny. I guess it cheered up some kind of Brit, but it deserves the 1 star I saw it receive. Not a woman in sight, and these guys are all over each other in the broadest hammiest slapstick that doesn't work given the gravity of the subject matter. And it is really low budget, with the air scenes silly in an almost fascinating way. So if you have an interest in British low-comedy, this is the show for you. Otherwise, hit the delete button much sooner than 49 minutes - shame on me for thinking this movie could not be as bad as that 1-star indicated. Sometimes the mainstream critics are right.

The Crazy Gang were notorious for their free-for-all, anything-goes zany comedy both on and off stage. When American comedian Jack Benny appeared with them at the London Palladium he received a mysterious telegram: "Remember - what happened to Lincoln could happen to you." Then there was the time they convinced a street crowd that someone was trapped inside a pillar box (English mailbox).

Ever-present on the London stage in the 1930's, 40's and 50's, their film career was spotty and they never hit the heights of Will Hay or George Formby - the discipline of the medium didn't play to their strengths. Probably the best film to see them in today is 'The Frozen Limits' where they arrive 40 years late for the Yukon gold rush.

'Gasbags' dates from the early days of what was called the 'Phony War'. Following the invasion of Poland nothing much happened between autumn 1939 and the spring blitzkrieg of 1940. There was a war, but it didn't seem much to worry about. So the Gang are running a fish-and-chip stall instead of seeing to London's air defences and get whisked over to Germany by balloon. The rest of the film's plot involves finding a secret weapon which would allow the Nazis to tunnel under the English Channel and invade England. There's a lot of freewheeling farce and slapstick (much of which seems a bit pointless and goes on too long), but at least Moore Marriott is on hand to liven things up with some genuine character comedy in his famous 'old codger' role.

Early scenes take place in a concentration camp which makes for very uneasy viewing today. Nazi slave camps were no laughing matter, and the fate of Bud Flanagan's character (real name Reuben Chaim Weintrop) doesn't bear thinking about. This may have provided some light-hearted fun in 1940, but knowing the truth about Nazi Germany makes it a bit hard to take with hindsight.

This wartime farce concerns the Crazy Gang -- you may think of them as a precursor of the 'Carry On' series, if you like -- who get involved in World War Two, which for them means running a fish and chips shop off a barrage balloon, floating accidentally into Germany, being interned in a concentration camp, acting as Hitler doubles and escaping. Don't worry if it makes no sense, it's the Crazy Gang, meaning about eight music hall performers taking every opportunity to engage in pratfalls, puns, cowardice and risqué jokes. The Crazy Gang starred in something short of a dozen movies in the late 1930s and early 1940s, a sort of all-star supporting comics' series.

The director of this and other movies in the series was French-born Marcel Varnel, a specialist in high-speed farce for Gaumont and Gainsborough until his untimely death. When he worked with Will Hays and his group of comics -- Moore Marriott appeared in both series -- he produced some very fine situational farces. Here, in this looser-plotted work, with every comic fighting for screen time, the result is something that would have been a very popular home film in Britain, but which does not, alas, travel well in time or space to a modern American viewer like me.

The Crazy Gang were a British institution loved by everyone till their retirement in 1963,me included.I appreciate that their humour may not travel,but then you could say the same about Milton Berle who is unknown here.This may not be their best film but it is still pretty good.So far as taste is concerned what about To Be Or Not To Be making fun of the Gestapo,or That Nazty Nuisance making fun of Hitler.