Les sans-soucis

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

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.

Despite being doughboys in General Pershing's army in France, the Allies still were able to win World War I with Laurel and Hardy in the ranks. But most of Pack Up Your Troubles is spent with the boys as veterans looking for the family of their late comrade Don Dillaway on behalf of his daughter little Jackie Lyn Dufton.

Best scene in the film is when Stan and Ollie are sent out on what their exasperated sergeant thinks and hopes will be a suicide mission. They're told to get a prisoner. Remember this is 1932 and the story of Sergeant York even without the movie being made was known to one and all. How do Stan and Ollie pull off a Sergeant York? Well it involves a prototype tank, the enemy trenches, and some barbed wire. You have to see it being done.

Laurel's scenes especially with the child have a nice ring of pathos to them. Most of the time he's simply an idiot, here he's a lovable idiot. Next best scene in the movie is the little girl reading Stan a bedtime story, Goldilocks and the 3 Bears and Laurel falling asleep.

Pack Up Your Troubles has an unusually good cast of recognizable character players in roles that we all identify them with. Of course James Finlayson is there as their commanding general. But also there's Charles Middleton as a welfare inspector, Billy Gilbert whose daughter blows up a marriage to Grady Sutton when the boys think he's Dillaway's father and Mary Gordon as a delightful old Irish mother babysitting the little girl for Stan and Ollie. Third best scene is the police closing in on them and them trying to escape in a dumb waiter.

Only their third sound feature length film and a winner for Laurel And Hardy.

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.

Mr. Laurel and Mr. Hardy wind up in the army in the Great War. In the trenches, they become friends with Don Dilaway. When he buys the farm, they return to the United States, rescue his orphaned daughter Jackie Lyn Dutton, and try to locate her grandfather amid the comedy set pieces.

It's a surprisingly serious movie amidst all the shenanigans and gags. Among the issues are marital breakdowns, abusive foster parents (played by the thoroughly malign Richard Cramer) and the unfeeling child welfare system (personified by Charles Middleton). Yet it never falters, thanks in no small part to direction by Ray McCarey and George Marshall -- the latter has three scenes as a miserable army cook. Through it all, the friendship of Stan and Ollie sustains them. They are stupid and ineffective, but they know they can rely on each other's poor best in the face of a hostile world. Plus they are so very funny.