Il nemico ci ascolta

One of Laurel and Hardy's last films was this one for MGM where they play a couple of 4Fs who still want to do their bit for the USA at war with the Axis. After getting turned down by all the armed services, Stan and Ollie return to their small town and their bicycle shop to volunteer as air raid wardens. Their bicycle shop in fact has been taken over by Donald Meek who is running a radio repair shop, but Meek allows them back in as partners.

MGM did give the boys an excellent supporting cast a lot better than what they usually had with Hal Roach. Problem is that they looked a bit old and tired and both were having health problems at the time. Still they got a few good slapstick licks in, especially with Edgar Kennedy and Howard Freeman who was a great foil for them.

My favorite moment in the film was when after one foul up too many they get canned as air raid wardens and Stan who usually cried at the drop of a hat, was almost in real tears about it. Both he and Ollie really do want to do something for the war effort even if they know they're a pair of bumblers.

Ollie in fact was the most restrained I've seen him. The Laurel and Hardy shtick is that Stan is a dummy and he knows it, Ollie is dumb, but has delusions of grandeur. Here Ollie also tones down the usual pomposity we expect from him.

Of course they redeem themselves when they stumble on to a real group of Nazi spies. Among that cast of all American small town types are a pair of known character actors who are in fact spies and saboteurs.

But you'll just have to see Air Raid Wardens to find out who.

In the small town of Huxton, incompetent business owners Laurel (Stan Laurel) and Hardy (Oliver Hardy) intends to join the war effort. Only non of the military services are willing to accept them. They return home with no jobs and no store. They sign up to be air raid wardens. The boys try very hard but they are also very incompetent.

It's the first of two movies the boys made at MGM. The good news is that they are the stars of the movie. The bad news is that they're not doing their best work. The physical gags are basic and a little slow. The boys need to write some better gags. I still love them and that's why I like this movie. They are sweet and fun and that's what they make this film... even with the Nazis.

It's World War II, and Stan and Ollie want to join the Armed Forces to help fight the enemy. It's a wonder they haven't received their draft notices way before 1943, but then, that's Laurel and Hardy. They try the Navy, then the Army and then the Marines. They're turned down by all the services.

Just when they are starting to feel like losers, they see the ad for Homefront duty. Through a friend, Dan Madison (Stephen McNally) they get to be air raid wardens. Well, naturally they bungle that job In some preparedness tests. But even after they get ushered out of the Air Raid Warden service, the boys become heroes.

They uncover the Nazi plot to blow up the new magnesium plant about to open in their town. And they coral that sinister culprit, Eustace Middling, who is a spy. Donald Meek always gets some laughs when he plays these tough guys or bad guys, even when not in and Laurel and Hardy film.

This is not among the better films of the comedy duo, but it's has a few laughs. Both men are showing their age some - in their early 50s.

This movie is a tome to all that is World War II, Real Patriotism, and of course our guys Laurel and Hardy........ The boys are grand, and whereas others may think that it was too "Deep" or not enough slapstick, I believe it shows the depth of skill that Stan and Ollie have. I must confess, I was a bit taken aback when seeing this the first time by Stanly's speech to the board of the Air Raid Wardens.... ,... between Stan's speech and Ollie's amazingly silent expressions,... I literally wept! I was simply stunned by the boys dramatic acting abilities... I recall Ollie as a bad guy in some silents, before Stan, and of course Stan also, but never had a clue as to the extent of their talent.

I have loved Stan and Ollie for years (I am actually a cousin of Rosina Lawrence..."mary roberts" in way out west) and I was in personal contact with John McCabe before his death... (I am from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and just a few miles from Mackinac Island where John resided).

I know of what I speak, and I say IF YOU ARE A STAN AND OLLIE FAN WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!!

I tend to repeat this in all my reviews of the final eight 1940s films featuring the legendary comedy team of Laurel and Hardy, but the six pictures they made for 20th Century-Fox were generally underrated; the real sour lemons of all the latter-day Stan and Ollie movies from their twilight years were actually the two which were made by MGM --- the insufferable NOTHING BUT TROUBLE (1944), and then this one - AIR RAID WARDENS (1943). Here, Laurel and Hardy want desperately to aid the U.S.A. by contributing to the war effort, but nobody will have them. No matter what they attempt to accomplish, they keep putting their feet in everything and turn up mostly disastrous results. At least Edgar Kennedy is present this time as a good foil for L&H, and there are some funny spots now and then, but you can tell that this picture has more of a wholesome whitewash to it and doesn't really "feel" like a Laurel and Hardy comedy. It's at least average Stan and Ollie, though; and that's more than can be said for the film which was to follow. ** out of ****