A Chump at Oxford

I'm not a huge L&H fan, but I found this film very enjoyable.

As others have pointed out, CHUMP was originally a 45-minute film, but European distributors demanded at least a full hour for features. You'll spot the REAL beginning of the movie about 20 minutes in, when Stan & Ollie appear as street cleaners. The rest of the opener, beginning with some funny business on various modes of transportation, was tacked on later.

Although the maid/butler scene has some laughs, it's the kind of thing that the Three Stooges did with a lot more manic energy (and more often). The real film begins when Stan and Ollie receive scholarships to Oxford and arrive in England, where the native students decide to pick on them as much as possible. There's not much in the film about what students REALLY do at Oxford, but that's OK. An extended scene in a maze ends with a nicely-choreographed sequence in which a "third hand" from behind the bushes causes havoc with the boys. (Just think of how much rehearsal must have gone into that business to make it look natural.)

And the crowning glory of this movie is Stan's brief transformation from his usual vacuous simpleton into a posh English lord, who makes "Fatty" his personal valet. All in all, a jolly good way to spend an hour.

What a lovely gentle comedy. Laurel & Hardy are down on their luck after spectacularly failing as domestic servants (with Stan in drag as a maid) and find themselves literally "in the gutter" working as road-sweepers. They accidentally foil a bank robbery and the grateful bank manager rewards them with the one thing they most dream of, "the best education money can buy". And so off they go to Oxford University, England where the students play a series of practical jokes on them until it's discovered Stan is really Lord Paddington, a brilliant academic who lost his memory several years earlier and vanished. Some of Laurel and Hardy's full-length movies lack the brilliance of their "shorts" but this is spot on throughout. Trust me, you won't stop laughing. Hard to believe this film is now 65 years old, but it still shines. The "Oxford" scenes were shot in Hollywood as we British were rather pre-occupied in 1940 and it's kind of poignant to reflect on the terrible evil that was loose in the world while this lovely film was being created. This movie is a wonderful anglo-American co-operation just like the military alliance which, thankfully, meant that comedy could continue. I recently heard Laurel and hardy described as two very gentle gentlemen, and that sums up my feelings. God bless them both, and long may their legacy continue to bring laughter. Look out for a very young Peter Cushing as one of the spiteful students.

I remember watching this on BBC2 when I was about 8 years old and finding it hysterical. So, much to my pleasure, Universal has released it on DVD (Region 2 only) along with many other Laurel and Hardy movies. I chose to watch the black and white version as that is how I originally saw it.

There is an extended opening featuring a remake of 1928's 'From Soup to Nuts' short in which Stan and Ollie cause havoc at a swanky dinner party before being employed as street sweepers. During their sweeping lunch break they inadvertently foil a bank robbery and as a reward they are sent to Oxford for a good education, perhaps finally getting them out of the gutter.

Once there, the students (including a young Peter Cushing) play all sorts of pranks on them and Stan loses (or restores) his memory when he is hit on the back of the head. Now he's Lord Paddington (I must add he does brilliantly with the accent) and he gives Ollie some amount of grief for his weight.

Very funny indeed, I suggest you check it out whenever it comes on TV.

This is without doubt one of the best L & H films. It opens with their hilarious attempts at finding employment, which involve Stan dressing as a maid. Then, after foiling a bank robbery whilst working as street cleaners, the duo are rewarded with the possibility of a university education and go to Oxford where they end up on the wrong side of prankster students (including a teenaged Peter Cushing). Before long, it is revealed that Stan has a mysterious past.

Unmissable whether you're a fan of the legendary duo or not, this film has barely a dull moment. The apex of comedy, timeless whether in color or black and white.

In A Chump at Oxford the duo dream of gaining a good education as a means to escape from the string of dead end, boring jobs by which they have been consistently exploited for a measly pay cheque which no doubt gives them just enough money to 'get by' on.

Having only enough money to get by on means that the duo are denied the best education. Then by chance the duo inadvertently foil a bank robbery and are duly rewarded with that elitist education they were dreaming of, but otherwise couldn't afford from a grateful bank president.

For the duo to obtain this elitist education the grateful bank president sends them to Oxford University in England which is then exposed for its upper class haughtiness via Laural and Hardy's enrolment at this ancient medieval institute of higher education, which has been dominated for centuries by upper class nitwits who think an elitist education here is their right alone, because they have the correct breeding.

This means that those people such as Laural and Hardy are viewed by the traditional Oxford student with disdain, because they are among the common 'new rich' who have no breeding, and who have merely bought their way to Oxford with so called 'new money' which is viewed by them as vulgar. So, the traditional elitist students' endeavour to evict the common pair that is Laural and Hardy from Oxford by way of student pranks, which are in fact a form of bullying . However, it is because Laurel and Hardy may well have the brains, - but lack the education - that they actually win through by seeing how institutes of learning, such as Oxford University are ensuring that higher education remains in the hands of the ancient upper classes, and escape it by heading back to the USA!