Bons pour le service

After a particularly wicked day, having to contend with the weather outside and the workplace inside, I settled down to view a serendipitous broadcast. Fans don't seem to hold this feature film with Mr Laurel and Mr Hardy in as high regard. It was the first one of theirs I'd seen from start to finish besides their take on Babes in Toyland, the broadcast of which is a New York metropolitan-area Christmas tradition.

You certainly don't view this for the acting, topicality or thematic consistency. The transition from a heat-shrunken pair of pants to India by way of the Highlanders made me blink, and I half-expected an extra to blurt, "It's like Gunga Din all over again!"

But one brilliant scene displayed the worst fear of anyone on parade, and what could only be called a dance set to "100 Pipers" had to have been spur-of-the-moment. Perhaps I was especially susceptible to five (count 'em) scenes that instantly generated tears of helpless laughter: The snuff box and the footbridge, the bagpipes and glass smoking water pipe (they're apparently related), the candle beneath the bed beneath the...fish...and the final five or so minutes that had to have inspired The Goon Show.

I bless the gents' memory for the gift...and that of Leatherpuss too!

Stan and Ollie travel all the way to Bonnie Scotland to collect on an inheritance left by Stan MacLaurel's late grandfather. Both he and his cousin June Lang are provided, but she's not of age and she's under the firm guardianship of Colonel Vernon Steele and his scheming Mrs., Anne Grey.

William Janney, the clerk in lawyer David Torrence's office is in love with June Lang, but she's spirited off to India during the British Raj. Never mind, Stan and Ollie and poor young Janney also find their way there as the scene of the plot shifts from Bonnie Scotland to India with the Highlanders.

It's all a pretty thin plot, but good enough to hang some of Stan and Ollie's best screen moments on. One of my all time favorites is when Ollie has an encounter with a snuff box which was half of Laurel's inheritance the other half being a set of bagpipes. Another is when Stan and Ollie try to use the bedsprings in their hotel to grill some fish and nearly burn poor Mary Gordon's establishment down.

After the boys go into the Indian Army they become the bane of the existence of their old nemesis, Sergeant James Finlayson. In the end Janney, Finlayson, and the boys provide a hilarious ending to a tribal rebellion.

Films like Lives of a Bengal Lancer and Charge of the Light Brigade about the British Raj take one good beating from producer Hal Roach and his intrepid and incomparable stars. For fans of Stan and Ollie the world over.

This Laurel and Hardy film is probably a spoof of a film called "The Lives of a Bengal Lancer" that was released earlier the same year. Even though it's titled "Bonnie Scotland" it has very little to do with Scotland. The boys show up in a Scottish village, located somewhere on the back lot of the Hal Roach Studios in Hollywood, after being informed that Stan is an heir to a portion of the estate of a deceased lord. They are disappointed in their hope for riches and in financial straits, so they join the British army. They wind up on the Northwest Frontier in British Colonial India, located just around the corner from Scotland somewhere on the back lot of the Hal Roach Studios in Hollywood. Stan and Ollie provide their usual high jinks and a good time is generally had by all, but the film suffers the same problems of most of their feature length films. The studio filled the script with alternative plots that didn't focus on Mr. Hardy and Mr. Laurel. The plot of "Bonnie Scotland" involves a thwarted romance between the heiress of the lord's estate and a penniless law clerk. It is rather boring and certainly interferes with the comedy. One of the funniest scenes involves Stanley, who is chronically incapable of staying in step with the rest of the soldiers. At one point he gets the soldier next to him to fall into step with him and this gradually spreads until the entire regiment is in step with Stanley. The climax involves a great deal of slapstick and ultimately nothing in the various plots is resolved.

Laurel & Hardy leave for Scotland so that Mr. Stanley MacLaurel can receive his inheritance, what he hopes is money; what he gets is bagpipes and a snuff box. On shrinking Ollie's pants, Stan covers up at the boarding house that Ollie is sick; yet this plan doesn't work (hilarious cooking of the fish) and the boys are kicked out, and wind up joining the Scottish Army in search of pants for Ollie! This movie also has a subplot, whcih does not pertain to the boys at all, it is romantic, and doesn't hog up the spotlight too much. The romantic plot: A clerk is in love with Miss MacLaurel, Stan's cousin or something, and she leaves as a ward for Colonel Gregor McGregor to India; his sister hiding away the clerk (Alan's) letters. Finally, in a desperation of love, Alan joins with Stan & Ollie as they, in the Scottish Army, go to India as well.

Once there, we see some hilarious scenes-from Stan marching out of place, to the invisible accordion, and who could ever forget that funny dance routine and Stan's calling of the Sergeant (Finlayson), "Leatherpuss." The romantic subplot, however, is never resolved, and in the end, Stan & Ollie throw bee hives at enemy forces disguised as officer in the Scottish Army. Everyone runs from the bees, including all of the good guys, and the film ends here. True, Stan & Ollie are finished, but the unfinished romantic subplot leaves you wondering: What Happened?

All in all, this is an excellent Laurel & Hardy film, one every fan should see. It's not one of their funniest or all-time greatest, but it is an all-round good film, much better than many of the current comedies..

This is a good film, but unfortunately some dunderhead insisted on adding a side love interest that did not in any way involve Stan and Ollie. Why, if you have the greatest comedy team ever would you insist on adding pointless subplots? Who cares if the boy gets the girl--I want more Stan and Ollie. And, because of this, the amount of funny stuff that the boys do is limited to probably a short's worth of humor--stretched out to feature length! When Stan and Ollie ARE on film, they are good--not great. But, even good Laurel and Hardy is well worth watching.

For a better full-length Laurel and Hardy movie, try PARDON US, A CHUMP AT OXFORD or especially SONS OF THE DESERT. And, try to avoid the musical Laurel and Hardy full-length films such as THE DEVIL'S BROTHER or BABES IN TOYLAND. Once again, I want JUST Laurel and Hardy--no love stories, subplots or music--just 100% pure Stan and Ollie!