A Chump at Oxford (1940)

Waste of time

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Although I seem to have had higher expectations than I thought, the movie is super entertaining.

"A Chump at Oxford" is an American 1-hour movie from 1940, the earlier days of WWII and this one is a black-and-white sound film that is already over 75 years old, at least in the original as I saw there are also color versions out there. It stars Stan and Ollie, the two silent film greats also not too early in their career as they are at the age of 50 here or slightly under. This one is directed by the very prolific Alfred J. Goulding and cast and crew include several names here that worked with Laurel and Hardy on many other occasions. The duo is (through lucky coincidence) on the campus here, but their fellow Oxford students are not exactly too fond of them. The film gets a bit (too) absurd at times, but it is tolerable, even if the story was not too convincing for me. Luckily the talent of the two guys in the center of it makes up for deficits in other areas and Stan even pulls off nicely the split-personality part. Other than that, it is the usual. Our two heroes carry the film nicely with their interactions with each other and the looks to us, the audience, too. I read there is a version that runs for under 45 minutes or maybe that was just what they initially wanted the film's runtime to be as everything I found was slightly over 60 minutes long. Maybe not my favorite from the duo, but a solid watch still. I give it a thumbs-up and recommend checking it out.

There are wonderful plot elements here. The first involves the boys wanting to get employment. When they see a rich man needs a maid and a butler for a big dinner party he hires them (Stan becomes "Agnes" in drag). Of course, the skinny one can't keep away from the booze and gets snockered. The two are shot at as they run away. Now they get a job as street cleaners and end up soaking wet when a water truck driver sprays them just to be mean. As they have their lunch in front of a bank, Stan throws a banana peel. Just at that time, a bank robber, carrying the loot, slips on the peel and is knocked out. The bank president things the boys apprehended him. He want to give them a job, but Ollie points out they have no education. The bank president decides to give them the best; he sends them to Oxford. Of course, they are completely out of their element (dressed as British elementary school boys) and are victimized by the snobby rich kids, spend the night in a hedge maze, and end up in the quarters of the Dean. When Stan is struck on the head by a window as he looks out, the fun really starts. Memorable movie.

Since in a couple of days, school would be in session again (though here in Baton Rouge, it had already started in mid-August), I thought I'd watch a couple of comedies that take place in the institute of higher learning. So it is that I just watched A Chump at Oxford again which has Stan & Ollie going to that English university after foiling a robbery and the bank head wanting to give them a reward. Plenty of fun follows especially when some students (L & H regular Charlie Hall, Peter Cushing in an early role as Johnson before his horror movie fame) plan some pranks on them with the dean (Wilfred Lucas, previously the warden in the boys' Pardon Us) a victim and then Stan getting his memory back from previously being Lord Paddington, an Oxford alumni. That last bit is a rare instance of Stan playing someone other than himself during the years of his teaming with Babe (Ollie's nickname). He's hilarious playing the complete opposite of the usual dumb characterization for that role but when things switch back, it's great having Ollie overjoyed at the result especially after having to suffer the humiliation of being called "Fatty"! When first released, this was originally a "streamliner"-40 minutes in length-producer Hal Roach made in his dealings with the double feature program. But he decided to add a couple of reels in order to give it a more respectable length in Europe. So the movie now begins with Stan & Ollie being hired as a butler and a maid (Stan plays Agnes without changing his voice!) for Baldy and Mrs. Vandevere (James Finlayson and Anita Garvin in her last L & H role). This reworking of their previous short From Soup to Nuts is almost as funny here with the ending gag of this sequence having cop Harry Bernard suffering the same indignity as in another of the boys' short, Wrong Again! So on that note, I highly recommend A Chump at Oxford. P.S. The VHS tape I viewed from Video Treasures had some extra rarities of Lois Laurel, Stan's daughter, narrating some photos and home movie footage of her as a young child and her mother, Lois Neilson, with Stan. Of her playing in the snow in early '30s Los Angeles. Of James Finlayson, in glasses and clean-shaven, with companion Stephanie-perhaps the one with the last name of Insall that he often had breakfast with. And a color one of Stan at his home after receiving his honorary Oscar-which he dubbed "Mr. Clean"-at his desk where he wrote to his many fans.

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.