Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are the most famous comedy duo in history, and deservedly so, so I am happy to see any of their films. Here Stan and Ollie seek employment, and when they hear that the Vandeveres - Baldy (James Finlayson) and the Mrs. (Anita Garvin) - need a butler and maid for a dinner party, and all disaster follows with Ollie as butler and Stan in drag as the maid. When this all ends, they are jobless sweeping the streets, and sitting outside the bank doors they unintentionally foil a robbery, and as reward, the grateful bank president grants them the proper education they want, sending them to Oxford. There they fall victim to some students and their pranks, who send them through a maze, and spooking them with their hands and dressing as ghosts, and worst of all, giving them the quarters of Dean Williams (Wilfred Lucas) as their own. Going into a new room the Dean's servant (Frank Baker) is convinced he knows Stan as scholar and athlete extraordinaire Lord Paddington, and after a hard knock through the window, this past memory is restored. Ollie by the way is retained as his valet, and unfortunately has to put up with being called "Fatty", don't worry, another hard knock brings back Stan. Also starring young Peter Cushing as Stundent Jones, the one pretending to be the Dean. Filled with wonderful slapstick and all classic comedy you could want from a black and white film, it is an enjoyable film. Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were number 7 on The Comedians' Comedian. Good!
Review of A Chump at Oxford
