Il compagno B

Amazing how they did it. This movie features war sequences, the lost of a friend who leaves a young daughter behind. All some serious heavy dramatic stuff but yet the boys manages to make this movie a perfectly entertaining one with some good slapstick humor and comical situations.

The movie at times is a sappy one that goes definitely over-the-top but yet for most part the story and its drama works effective. Stan and Ollie taking care of the young daughter of Eddie and their quest for her grandparents is quite heartwarming. Especially since the boys in this movie have an amazingly good chemistry Jackie Lyn Dufton, who plays the young girl. Especially Stan Laurel has a good chemistry with her. Dufton refers to Stan and Ollie as her uncle's in this movie and that special feeling is brought amazingly effective and believable to the screen.

Yet the movie is also one of their most fun ones, despite the dramatic undertone. The slapstick humor is especially top-class and the boys manage once more to get themselves into some silly and hilarious situations.

The movie its supporting cast is also good. The movie features lots of different actors in a variety of roles. Of course this movie also has the regular Laurel & Hardy actors in it, such as James Finlayson, Charlie Hall and Paulette Goddard. But it's the supporting cast as a whole that delivers a good and impressive performance.

A delightful and well made comedy that also works effective with its more dramatic moments.

8/10

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Once again, Stan and Ollie find themselves being potentially done in for trying to do the right thing. Through a series of events, the boys find themselves in France in the service. They are totally incompetent as soldiers, of course, but they make the acquaintance of Eddie Smith, who helps them get by. Eddie gets a Dear John letter and gets the boys to promise that if anything happens to him, they will see that his baby gets taken to his father's home. Well, the sad thing happens and they are in his debt...a promising made. They are released from the Army as heroes for inadvertently rounding up a battalion of German soldiers. Once back in the states, they begin the arduous process of finding a man named Smith. This allows them to make some hilarious mistakes, including telling a bridegroom at his wedding that they have his child. A mistake, of course. This is a touching, loving effort. But, of course, these guys seldom catch a break.

PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES is the second L&H feature. They do a great job, providing straight laughs for over an hour! The supporting cast reads like a "who's-who" of 1930's comedy:Charles Middleton, Jacquie Lyn, Muriel Evans, Billy Gilbert, C. Montague Shaw, George Marshall, Rychard Cramer, James C. Morton, Richard Tucker, Lew Kelly, and other greats such as the immortal James Finlayson as a General. Directed by George Marshall and Raymond McCarey (brother of L&H creator Leo McCarey), Photographed by Art Lloyd. Screenplay and Dialogue by H. M. Walker. A comedy classic.

Stanley's and Oliver's army buddy Eddie Smith gets killed in a war, so the boys have to find the grandparents of Eddie's daughter.So they go from door to door looking for every Smiths there are in the town.It's not an easy job for the boys to do, because there are many Smiths but only two boys.And it doesn't make the job any easier that they get blamed for a bank robbery. Pack Up Your Troubles is a very funny comedy from Laurel and Hardy.It is one of the best Laurel and Hardy movies.The movie has many funny situations.Watch the movie and you just can't stop laughing.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were comedic geniuses, individually and together, and their partnership was deservedly iconic and one of the best there was. They left behind a large body of work, a vast majority of it being entertaining to classic comedy, at their best they were hilarious and their best efforts were great examples of how to do comedy without being juvenile or distasteful.

Although a vast majority of Laurel and Hardy's previous efforts ranged from above average to very good ('45 Minutes from Hollywood' being the only misfire and mainly worth seeing as a curiosity piece and for historical interest, and even that wasn't a complete mess), 'Two Tars' for me was their first truly classic one with close to flawless execution. Didn't find 'Pack Up Your Troubles' quite one of their very best, but it to me still very good and some of the best material is among their funniest.

Admittedly, the story is pretty thin and is pretty standard and the beginning is a touch slow.

Despite that, 'Pack Up Your Troubles' is great fun while also having a definite degree of substance, never less than very amusing and the best moments, such as the ending, being classic hilarity. It is never too silly, there is a wackiness that never loses its energy and the sly wit is here, some of the material may not be new but how it's executed actually doesn't feel too familiar and it doesn't get repetitive. Yet there is also a surprising amount of pathos, that is actually genuinely moving and not over-sentimental. A lot happens yet it doesn't ever feel rushed or over-stuffed. The ending is a delight.

Laurel and Hardy are on top form here, both are well used, both have material worthy of them and they're equal rather than one being funnier than the other (before Laurel tended to be funnier and more interesting than Hardy, who tended to be underused). Their chemistry feels like a partnership here too, before 'Two Tars' you were yearning for more scenes with them together but in 'Pack Up Your Troubles' and on the most part from 'Two Tars' onwards we are far from robbed of that. Their comic timing is impeccable.

'Pack Up Your Troubles' looks good visually, is full of energy and the direction gets the best out of the stars, is at ease with the material and doesn't let it get too busy or static. The supporting players are solid, but Laurel and Hardy steal the show as they ought to.

Concluding, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox