I used to watch this with my kid when he was about ten years old and it always cracked us up. I'm beginning to realize now that what I enjoyed most about this movie -- and other Laurel and Hardy efforts -- is his enjoyment of them. They're funny without being particularly witty.
"A Chump at Oxford" appears to be a collection of four or five separate shorts, brusquely strung together by a slender narrative thread that brings them as students to Oxford.
First, they wangle their way into a job as butler and maid, with Laurel in drag and serving the salad "without dressing." They get kicked out and wind up as street sweepers. They unwittingly capture a bank robber and the owner of "The Finlayson National Bank" sends them to England for an education.
The students there trick Laurel and Hardy into getting lost in a maze of hedges. When they try to settle down for the night, one of the students introduces "the third hand" into Laurel's twiddling thumbs. This stunt probably originated with Laurel in vaudeville and has since shown up all over the place, from "I Love Lucy" to "Young Frankenstein." It's always amusing.
Next, the students rib the newcomers by taking them to the Dean's quarters and telling them that these are their rooms. It was good enough for Errol Flynn's writers to use in "They Died With Their Boots On." Finally, a window slams down on Laurel's head and he regains his memory of himself as Lord Paddington, an Oxfordian so athletic and so brilliant that he's won all sorts of awards and is consulted by Professor Einstein from Princeton. It's the most engaging of the scenes because it involves Laurel adopting an upper-class accent and acting like a snob, tucking his hankie away in his sleeve and insulting Hardy every time he speaks to him. (He calls him "Fatty.") Laurel pretty much pulls it off, too, though I doubt that his accent would fool another Brit. British accents differ from American in that they serve as indexes not only of place but of social class. American English has nothing like the Received Pronunciation of England.
Anyway, it's a decent comedy but, as I say, maybe best appreciated in the company of children. I don't mean to sound snooty myself but compared to, say, Charlie Chaplin at his best, Laurel and Hardy, though likable enough, lacked artistry.
"A Chump at Oxford" appears to be a collection of four or five separate shorts, brusquely strung together by a slender narrative thread that brings them as students to Oxford.
First, they wangle their way into a job as butler and maid, with Laurel in drag and serving the salad "without dressing." They get kicked out and wind up as street sweepers. They unwittingly capture a bank robber and the owner of "The Finlayson National Bank" sends them to England for an education.
The students there trick Laurel and Hardy into getting lost in a maze of hedges. When they try to settle down for the night, one of the students introduces "the third hand" into Laurel's twiddling thumbs. This stunt probably originated with Laurel in vaudeville and has since shown up all over the place, from "I Love Lucy" to "Young Frankenstein." It's always amusing.
Next, the students rib the newcomers by taking them to the Dean's quarters and telling them that these are their rooms. It was good enough for Errol Flynn's writers to use in "They Died With Their Boots On." Finally, a window slams down on Laurel's head and he regains his memory of himself as Lord Paddington, an Oxfordian so athletic and so brilliant that he's won all sorts of awards and is consulted by Professor Einstein from Princeton. It's the most engaging of the scenes because it involves Laurel adopting an upper-class accent and acting like a snob, tucking his hankie away in his sleeve and insulting Hardy every time he speaks to him. (He calls him "Fatty.") Laurel pretty much pulls it off, too, though I doubt that his accent would fool another Brit. British accents differ from American in that they serve as indexes not only of place but of social class. American English has nothing like the Received Pronunciation of England.
Anyway, it's a decent comedy but, as I say, maybe best appreciated in the company of children. I don't mean to sound snooty myself but compared to, say, Charlie Chaplin at his best, Laurel and Hardy, though likable enough, lacked artistry.