The Big Noise

When I saw this movie the first time, I was greatly disappointed, and thought that the boys really had lost it. But after watching it again, I realised this view was a bit unjustified.

The movie is about Laurel and Hardy taking a job at a private home as detectives, to protect a bomb (called "The Big Noise" - thus the title of the movie) from people wanting to steal the bombs, and sell it to foreign nations.

The big flaws that this movie has, are particularly the little kid of the house trying to tease and annoy the persons in it, particularly Stan & Ollie. This may sound like fun, but it truly isn't. And the only the kid really managed to annoy, was me. Also the scene of the woman of the house trying to seduce Ollie wasn't my thing (a scare attempt to enter some love in the movie?), and finally the nazi segment. This segment is particularly disappointing, because it shows a Japanese officer saying "Heil Hitler", and the Japanese did no such thing.

But apart from that, the movie has some good scenes. All scenes with Stan and Ollie at their room in the house are hilarious. For instance Stan's unpacking of the things, when the woman trying to temp Ollie sleepwalks with a knife into the room, when Ollie disappears inside the wall (don't ask) and the card playing. Amongst other noteworthy scenes, are the dinner scene at the house and the bunker scene in a train.

So, not a classic and with flaws. But still having some original and hilarious moments.

As recently suggested by others, THE BIG NOISE has suffered in reputation for years, usually sight unseen. As a lifelong L & H fan, I finally saw it for the first time via the new Fox set (a very well done package), and it is more than acceptable a part of L&H's legacy. Of course it can't match their heyday, but among the Fox films it is much more Stan & Ollie's show than the initial Fox entries. The whimsical fadeout is by far one of the most delightful moments of their entire career, which is something.

Give this film some slack, and you'll have a good enough time with it. I'm glad Fox has made this one available.

In the Medved Brothers' usually on target book, THE 50 WORST FILMS OF ALL TIME, THE BIG NOISE is given a degree of prominence as the worst of Laurel & Hardy's films. John McCabe dismissed it in his MR. LAUREL AND MR. HARDY by saying the plot of the film can be described in one sentence - the boys are assigned to deliver a bomb and do so. Yet a number of people have also supported it as one of their cutest, if not funniest movies.

When L & H left Roach in 1941, they had planned to do a production of the Victor Herbert's THE RED MILL as their next movie after SAPS AT SEA. They probably were picking up on their success in operetta films (BABES IN TOYLAND, THE BOHEMIAN GIRL, THE DEVIL'S BROTHER, even SWISS MISS) as a sure fire way of showcasing their humor. I have often thought about this project. No doubt the roles of Kid Connor and Con Kidder that David Montgomery and Fred Stone had originated would have been redone by the screenplay writer (with advise from Stan) to fit the person-as of Stan and Ollie. But by 1941 the cycle of films in Hollywood which were based on operettas had slowly collapsed (the last major ones were Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald's BITTERSWEET, as well as Eddy and Rise Stevens' THE CHOCOLATE SOLDIER). Shows based on current stage hits were more likely to be made into films (the next and last Eddy and MacDonald film would I MARRIED AN ANGEL, based on the Rodgers and Hart stage musical). It seems doubtful that any of the studios would have been willing to finance a production of a 1905 operetta hit, whose major big-time number was "In Old New York".

Yet that was what Stan was proposing (and Ollie would have supported him on that). William Everson has suggested that actually, by 1941, the boys were tired, and needed more time to rejuvenate their material. I end up feeling that this is true. The best of the later films, JITTERBUGS, has some nice moments (Hardy romancing Lee Patrick, and shepherding around Stan in drag as an old lady), and includes some rejuvenated material at the conclusion of the film from Alice Faye's movie, SALLY, IRENE AND MARY, but (as John McCabe suggested) it's plot does not make any sense (particularly as Bob Bailey's character, a major one in the plot, seems good natured one moment and opportunistic and crooked the next).

THE BIG NOISE does have a straightforward plot, tied in with the current war effort. Arthur Space is one of those screwy scientist/inventors who crop up in many comedies of the 1920s to 1930s. He has invented food pills that replaced full course meals, and has an impossible push button modern house (after the 1939 - 40 New York Worlds Fair "push button" future space saving homes become a perennial joke in comedies - and a weak one at that - see the Marx Brothers contemporary film THE BIG STORE and the ethnic children in the disappearing beds scene).

Space has, however, designed a new secret weapon - a highly powerful bomb. This is the "Big Noise" of the title. The government is testing it with the intention of using it against the Axis, but their agents are planning to steal it to use against us (shades of Lionel Atwill as Moriarty in SHERLOCK HOLMES AND THE SECRET WEAPON). In need of guards for his weapons, Space hires L & H thinking they are detectives (they are janitors in a detective school).

In reality the interplay of L & H with Space, Robert Blake (then Bobbie Blake), Esther Howard (who shows a sexual interest in Hardy - quite unusual for him, and very unsettling to him), and the cast is actually quite good. The result is that the material, even if reused from earlier films (the bit from BERTH MARKS about changing in the upper berth of a train) is quite well done. And since the film is actually keeping a coherent story for a change (as opposed to JITTERBUGS) the film is more than just tolerable.

It is also nice to see that it did introduce one popular tune to movies: the tongue-twister tune, "Mares Eat Oats and Does Eat Oats and Little Lambs Eat Ivory", which is called "Maisey Doats" or "Maizy Doats" for short. Stan supposedly plays it on his accordion in the film.

A nice movie, possibly the boys' last good comedy.

This is one of Laurel & Hardy's later Twentieth Century-Fox films and it is not one of their best. However, it is an upbeat and fast-paced effort that shows signs that they put some effort into it. THE BIG NOISE has some good bits: the dinner with the inventor, the bunk bed scene in the train, and the constant threat of the bomb going off with Stan transporting it carelessly. The only part of this movie that seems weak is the Nazi segment and the scenes with a very annoying little kid. Other than that, this is recommended for all L&H fans, especially younger fans. 7 out of 10.

Laurel & Hardy play two janitors at a detective agency who take the job of protecting an inventor with a new bomb themselves with predictable results in this late comedy.

This film has been unfairly labeled as one of the worst films of all time. Nonsense. While it is certainly not one of their best films, it is not their worst either. In some ways, it should probably be one of the better late features because it presents the team in their traditional, well-honed personalities rather than forcing them into being cut rate Abbott & Costellos. Some of the gags happily hearken back to earlier shorts. Still, it doesn't quite work. Why? While growing up, "The Big Noise" played frequently on the local UHF channel -- more so than any of the other late, non-Roach features. As a child, I found the film enjoyable, though even at that tender age I found it inferior to the Roach material. Is it the lack of knockabout humor? No. Is it their age? No, I don't think that's the main problem either -- even though wrinkles do work against Stan's persona. Ollie's persona, on the other hand, isn't particularly hurt by his age. (The older I get, the more I find myself concentrating on Hardy. Although he often described himself as Stan's straight man, he was nothing of the kind. He is a talented comedian who remains a joy to watch.)

It was only after a recent viewing have I been able to put my finger on the problem. The problem is the intended audience. In their heyday, Laurel & Hardy were mainstream comedians aimed at a widest possible audience. While children often take great pleasure in Laurel & Hardy films, and I'm sure most of the people reading this comment gained an appreciation for the team in their childhood, their films weren't specifically aimed at children. I think that changed at Fox and MGM. I believe these late films, "The Big Noise" in particular, were aimed primarily at children and were softened in the process.

There is hardly a description of the team that does not use the word "child-like" to describe their antics, but Laurel & Hardy, while they were often naive and innocent, were not children. (Except maybe in "Brats" and "Wild Poses.") Certainly not in the other worldly sense that Harry Langdon's persona could be labeled child-like. They were adult men and as often as not found themselves in adult situations, whether it be drinking bootleg hooch or sneaking out on their wives. Granted, you would never find the sophisticated comedy of "The Thin Man" in a Laurel & Hardy film, but they weren't necessarily childish either. Laurel & Hardy benefited from keeping their foot in the adult world. Just as the Marx Brothers were funnier against the more serious backdrop of an opera. Laurel & Hardy were funnier in real world situations we could all find ourselves in.

While World War II themed storyline of "The Big Noise" is certainly more serious than many of their classic shorts, the boys themselves are more child-like than they were at Roach. By aiming their comedy at children, they lost some but certainly not all of their wider appeal. That's the problem. That's why the film doesn't completely work for me. Still, a child like Laurel & Hardy is better than no Laurel & Hardy at all, so feel free to enjoy this film for its simple benefits regardless of what the critics say.