Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

Senteur As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

lugonian PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES (Hal Roach/Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1932), directed by George Marshall and Raymond McCarey, marks the second starring feature film from comedy team, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, and one of their finest efforts. Though categorized as a war comedy, the film in itself, divided into two parts, starts off with war related themed material while the second half concentrates more on the team's attempt in locating a little girl's grandparents while civilians after the Armitice.Opening title: "April 1917 – when the scratch of a pen on Capitol Hill caused crowns to rattle." After a brief montage of newspapers going to press with large headlines reading WAR DECLARED, Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are seen seated on a park bench reading the latest news. While Ollie declares that flat feet is all that's keeping him from enlisting, the two are soon approached by a tough recruiting sergeant (Tom Kennedy). Even while their attempts pretending to be unfit for active duty, Stan foils up their disqualification, finding them in the next scene at the U.S. Army Training Camp. "It didn't take Uncle Sam long to whip this raw material into real fighting machine." Causing their short-tempered drill sergeant (Frank Brownlee) to go out of his mind over their bumbling antics, Stan and Ollie create more trouble while on K.P. duty, taking foul odor garbage to the general's (James Finlayson) residence, ending up in the brig with a tough cook named Pierre (George Marshall) after naming him the one who told them to place the trash into the general's home in a sarcastic manner. Eddie Smith (Donald Dillaway), the boys' best pal, receives a letter written by his wife telling him she has left him for another man, resulting on Eddie to leave his little daughter (Jacquie Lyn) in the home of a bickering couple (Rychard Cramer and Adele Watson) for the time being. Eddie is killed in battle, while Stan and Ollie unwittingly becoming war heroes. With the war ending November 11, 1918, civilians Stan and Ollie locate Eddie's daughter, take her away from the unhappy environment. They make every effort finding her grandparents with the only clue that their last name is Smith, thus having them going through every Smith name in the New York City directory. More problems arise as they try getting a $12,000 loan from the bank on their lunch wagon, and face losing Eddie's child to a mean officer of the Welfare Association (Charles Middleton) with efforts on taking her to an orphanage.While the final print is somewhat handicapped by some rough cuts resulting to flimsy material, it's a wonder whether the original concept of the movie was initially longer longer than the theatrical 68 minute time frame, probably explaining after repeated viewing why certain characters, especially those part of the Laurel and Hardy stock company of James Finlayson, Billy Gilbert or Charlie Hall, have only brief bits. There is no plot development nor how Laurel and Hardy got to become such good friends with Eddie Smith. One would assume there's an edited account of first their meeting resulting to their friendship during their Army training segment. His dying in battle leads to the purpose of the story with Stan and Ollie doing a good turn by taking the responsibility for his little girl while spending months trying to locate her grandparents. The tight editing, obviously, keeps in the necessary scenes for plot development purposes while leaving more room for comedy material. Memorable scenes include Jacquie reciting a bedtime story to Uncle Stanley, struggling to keep awake; Stan and Ollie's individual attempts locating the many Smiths in the telephone directory; arriving at 311 Chester Drive where Stan and Ollie disturb a wedding ceremony addressing the child to be Eddie's baby, Eddie being the hapless groom (Grady Sutton); Stan going to Poughkeepsie to acquire if the Smith Brothers of cough drop fame to be the relatives, among others. Fine casting goes to Mary Carr as the baby's nanny; Mary Gordon as Mrs. McTavish, the baby sitter during the second half of the story; and Charles Middleton going with honorable re-mention as the one with a face mean and scary enough to "haunt a house." Jacquie Lynn, who sometimes speaks like future child star, Shirley Temple, gets in her finest moments mimicking Stan and Ollie both in mannerisms and famous line quotes, adding much to the fun during their troubles.While the title, PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES, was used again for a Ritz Brothers comedy for 20th Century-Fox (1939), this is where the similarity ends. Home video prints to the original Laurel and Hardy edition (black and white or colorized) often eliminate material involving unpleasantness between the bickering couple looking after little Jacquie. Restored prints have turned up on numerous cable channel networks over the years, from American Movie Classics (1996-97) to Turner Classic Movies (TCM premiere: April 1, 2003). Adding a touch of World War nostalgia with background music from that era, including the title song, "Where Do We Go From Here?" and so forth, PACK UP YOUR TROUBLES is one of those films that seems to get better and funnier after repeated viewings, especially for devotees of this most famous of comedy teams of all time, Laurel and Hardy. (***)

JohnHowardReid Both the movie itself and IMDb credit Raymond McCarey as co- director. According to Stan Laurel, this is not correct. Although McCarey was on the set at all times, his responsibility was to help Laurel devise and/or improve gags. George Marshall was always in charge of the actual direction. However, be that as it may, perhaps the idea of formulating and/or improving gags on the set was not such a good one. The movie itself, alas, is not an unqualified success. In fact, its jerky continuity and its use of inter-titles give it the air of a museum piece. Fortunately, there are some good laughs nevertheless. The boys are actually in top form, stumbling manfully through delicious encounters with Tom Kennedy, Frank Brownlee, James Finlayson, Billy Gilbert and most particularly director George Marshall himself, playing a wonderfully villainous cook. In addition, the boys enjoy their usual quota of amusing solo and tandem routines. Nevertheless, it must be said that Marshall's acting is far more smooth than his direction. His occasional use of traveling close-ups is certainly inventive, but his staging is both flat and over-emphatic.

verbusen I have watched Laurel and Hardy since when I was a child (thankfully) back in the early 70's. But I had never watched Pack Up Your Troubles before until today in 2015. It's crazy, but it is what it is. L&H was shown mostly as shorts in syndication and a few of their feature films, but only the ones that were their most juvenile ones (even as far as the shorts go). So where do I start? I just laughed at this one from start to finish. Stan looks very stoned or as I'm sure the times dictated dim witted, but in modern times he looks drunk or wasted. That in itself is funny. Then I am watching this as a Vet personally and it's hilarious for the recruitment Shanghai'd to the boot camp to the actual war. along the way there is a really really heavy drama trip put on us by a woman that would abandon a cute 3 year old blond girl, very sad, if you are into the film it may make you cry a little like I did (and of course, I cried later).Anyway, this is Laurel and Hardy in their still young days, connecting still as the common people, and not as total child buffoons. I like how Ollie stands up to the government to protect the child, and she is totally adorable, almost as much as Shirley Temple. Watching this has so many scenes in it that are memorable it''s like watching a 2 1/2 hour film instead of just 1 hour, and it's all good. If you never watched this before you should watch it and avoid spoilers because as much as it may fall into line, you will be surprised by this one. 10 of 10. God bless Laurel and Hardy and 1930's America.

Wilbur-10 Early Laurel & Hardy feature isn't among their best, but still provides entertaining viewing.Story begins with America entering the First World War, and L&H conscripted into the army after being spotted loafing on a park bench. Action moves to training camp, then onto the trenches in France before returning to America. Here Laurel & Hardy find themselves responsible for a dead army buddy's little girl, whom they must return to her rightful guardian.Film isn't as polished as later entries, and certainly can't compete with the likes of 'Sons of the Desert'. Even so, the continual odd-couple bickering between the two ensures plenty of laughs. The scene where they go to the Bank to get a loan on the strength of their mobile food business is out of the top draw - if there is a better comedy duo in movie history I've yet to see them.