Les As d'Oxford

This is Stan Laurel's show all the way, sure enough Ollie plays his part, but in this double package it's the genius of Laurel that comes to the fore. The double package in question is the now widely available European release of this film, the first 20 minutes sees the boys making their way to an employment agency where they jump at the chance of a job as maid and butler to the Vandevere family. Yes, this sees Stan dress up as a woman {Agnes} with hilarious results, not only does he buffoon his way thru serving dinner, he gets drunk into the bargain as well !. After being chased off the property by Mr Vandevere, the guys end up road sweeping and whilst taking a break they inadvertently foil a bank robbery and as a reward they get to fulfil their wish of a better education.

This sends the guys to England and a place at Oxford, the fun starts straight away as they are dressed for Eton !, upon seeing that these two are candidates for pranks being played on them, some of their fellow students send them into a big maze on the bluff that it's the way to the Deans office. This sets us up for a number of great sequences, most notably a brilliant set of events that sees Stan with three hands, from here we see the boys set up {as a prank} in the Deans own quarters and this of course causes much mirth when the Dean shows up to find the guys boozing away in his bedroom. Roll onto Stan banging his head and suddenly being transformed into an aristocrat called Lord Paddington and you just know that Laurel is getting a pure mania role to get his teeth into, the results are excellent, especially as Stan gets to boss Ollie around.

One of the best films the boys ever did in my honest opinion, 9/10.

I saw this movie several times as a child and only recently I saw it again. I was pleasantly surprised how much I liked the movie and this surprised me, as this was completed as the pair's career was heading downhill. Shortly after making this movie, then Saps at Sea, they made the mistake of signing with 20th Century Fox and made a string of completely forgettable and unfortunate comedies (they simply deserved better material).

The story is a takeoff on the MGM film A YANK AT OXFORD and so much of it parodies this film. Stan and Ollie accidentally help a rich guy and are rewarded by receiving an all expense paid admission to Oxford! Talk about being in the wrong element! The movie then moves at a very leisurely pace in their adventures trying to fit in to this fancy-schmancy school.

It's not the best they did, but a nice well-worth seeing picture nonetheless. Another decent movie they did in this same period is Blockheads--it's well worth a look as well.

Oliver and Stan are yet again down on their luck. A temporary job as a butler and a maid ends in disaster leaving them sweeping the streets. When they foil a bank robbery they get sent to Oxford as a reward to get an education. At Oxford they are targeted for pranks by the other students until a bump on the head reveals Stan's family background.

The story isn't very important - the various episodes aren't always very well linked and are really only excuses for a series of set pieces. However it doesn't mean it's bad. Each bit stands up in it's own right and you don't really notice the tenuous links. Each contains some very funny moments and it's typical of the duo's slow gentle comedy. The only concern I would have is that film comedy now is of the type that must move very quickly, be very crude and be very simple - I don't think audiences raised on "something about mary" style films would all appreciate this film at all.

All the performances are good (with only a few dodgy accents). Laurel and Hardy are good in their well practised roles. James Finlayson is good at his usual squinty, double taking stuff and there's an interesting early role for Peter Cushing.

Overall a little comedy that is slow and gentle - just don't expect the world in terms of plot or belly laughs.

This is probably the last consistently funny comedy produced by the duo and, although it's always enjoyable to watch, there's no real stand-out moments as there had been in most of their films of the thirties. Stan's beginning to look a little long in the tooth in his close-ups but he still manages to capture that sweet childlike quality, and there's more evidence of a real friendship between the characters in this film than there were in earlier films.

The first 20 minutes, apparently added for its European release, are basically a remake of the duo's silent comedy From Soup to Nuts with a few ideas from Another Fine Mess, and you can pretty much see the join but that doesn't detract from the enjoyment. James Finlayson, the boys classic foil, appears in this early sequence. The action then transfers to Oxford (the film's a parody of Robert Taylor's A Yank at Oxford from the previous year) where the boys find themselves mercilessly teased by the other students. This is where the film is funniest - it's surprising how many laughs can be wrung from two men wandering around a maze for 20 minutes. It's also surprising how well this film stands up to childhood memories of a non-stop hoot; while the laughs might not quite be non-stop, they still came pretty regularly to this old kid...

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.